JPH0879294A - Method for connecting lan including atm network and converter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To efficiently perform connections between mutual LAN terminals and between a LAN terminal and an ATM terminal via an ATM network, regarding the method for connecting a LAN including the ATM network. CONSTITUTION: Protocol conversion means 12 are provided between each of plural LAN 2 and an ATM network 1. A fixed channel 21 is set between each conversion means. A transmission origin conversion means 12 makes the MAC address request message of the MAC sub-layer protocol that a transmission origin LAN terminal 3 transmits to a transmission destination LAN terminal 3 into a cell and transmits the cell to the fixed channel by a broadcasting form. After a transmission destination conversion means 12 adds the identification information of its own conversion means 12 to the MAC address response message that a transmission destination LAN terminal returns and makes the message into the cell, the means 12 transmits the cell to the fixed channel by the broadcasting form. The transmission origin conversion means 12 performs the setting processing of a connection by using the identification information of the both conversion means. The communication between existing LAN where plural network layers protocols exist becomes possible to be performed in the repeating of an ATM network where the network layers protocols are unified.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connecting method and a converting device for a LAN including an ATM network. In recent years, LAN (Local
With the spread of Area Networks, there are an increasing number of examples in which a plurality of LANs located at distant places are mutually connected to form a wide area LAN (individual LANs that make up such a wide area LAN are called LAN segments). Sometimes called,
In the following, each LAN is simply referred to as LAN).

Recently, in addition to a conventionally used LAN (existing LAN), a new ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) type communication network (hereinafter referred to as ATM network) is used. LA
N (called ATM-LAN) has appeared. AT
M-LAN is an LA that accommodates ATM terminals in an ATM exchange.
N, and VCC (virtual channel connection, Vi
It is a connection-type communication network that establishes a connection by setting the rtual Channel Connection), but when this ATM network is incorporated into a communication network mainly composed of an existing LAN based on connectionless communication, ATM network L
It is important to connect the AN efficiently.

Although such a connection method between the existing LAN and the ATM network has not been established yet, the existing LAN and the ATM network have not been established yet.
OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) for network connection
A specific network layer protocol that conforms to the network layer protocol in the basic reference model (Network Layer
r Protcol) is a unified protocol (hereinafter referred to as UNLP)
The plan to use as an ATM forum (ATM LAN
Industry standardization organization) and other international organizations.

On the other hand, since network layer protocols other than UNLP are often used for communication between existing LAN terminals, ATM-LA is used in existing LANs.
When N is provided, it is necessary to take some means to connect an existing LAN that uses a network layer protocol other than UNLP by relaying the ATM network or to connect the existing LAN and the ATM network. There is. Therefore, AT
It is desired to develop a connection method capable of efficiently connecting existing LANs to each other or an existing LAN and an ATM network in a communication network including the M network.

[0005]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 28 is a block diagram of a conventional ATM network.
Reference numeral 29 is a configuration diagram of a LAN including a conventional ATM network.

In the ATM network, the above-mentioned VCC is set between terminals for communication, and a band is set according to communication quality.
As a method of setting the VCC, a variable channel (Switched Virtual Channel, which is also called simply VC, which is set by a call setting request from the terminal to the network at the time of communication request and disconnected at the end of communication, is hereinafter referred to as SVC) method. And a fixed channel (Permanent Virtual Channel) that semi-fixedly connects terminals that are expected to have communication requests in advance by the initial setting.
l, hereinafter referred to as PVC) method. When setting this VCC, an ATM address, which is an address on the ATM network, is used, and by designating the ATM address of the terminal to be connected, a call processing unit (not shown) virtualizes a virtual path and a virtual channel by a signaling protocol. Path identifier (hereinafter referred to as VPI-Virtual Path Identifier-)
And a virtual channel identifier (hereinafter, VCI-Virtual Chan
(hereinafter, referred to as “nel identifier-”) to set the VCC (VPI and VCI are publicly known in ATM exchanges, and therefore description thereof is omitted).

As described above, an ATM address is required to make a connection within the ATM network.
The ATM terminal accommodated in No. 1 does not use an ATM address to communicate with a terminal accommodated in another LAN, but the address of a specific network layer protocol defined as UNLP (hereinafter referred to as a network address). Using is the basic direction. Therefore, when VCC is set between ATM terminals, a process called address analysis for converting a network address and an ATM address is required.

In the ATM network 70 shown in FIG. 28, an ATM terminal
When the 74a communicates with another ATM terminal 74b, the partner ATM terminal 74b is designated by the network address defined as UNLP prior to the connection (call setting request), and an address analysis request is made. The network address of the destination ATM terminal 74b designated in the address analysis request is sent to the server 76. The server 76 is the destination ATM terminal 74b
Protocol for analyzing addresses on the ATM network with respect to other network addresses (ATM Address Resolution Protc
ATM terminal having the received network address, which is called ol and is hereinafter referred to as ATM-ARP) 77.
The ATM address of 74b is returned to the source ATM terminal 74a which has made the address analysis request. The sender ATM
ATM-ARP75 is also provided in the terminal 74a, and the server 7
Address analysis request to 6 and processing of ATM address returned from server 76 are performed.

When the source ATM terminal 74a, which has received the ATM address of the destination ATM terminal 74b, makes a call setting request using this ATM address, a call processing unit (not shown) sends the source ATM terminal 74a and the destination ATM terminal 74a. A between the ATM terminals 74b
Set the SVC 78 via the TM switch 11 and then both A
The TM terminals 74a and 74b communicate with each other via the SVC 78.

Next, the ATM network as described above has a plurality of LAs.
A case of being installed in a communication network composed of N and relaying communication between existing LANs will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 29
Are two LANs 82 (hereinafter, each LAN is LAN-A, LA
(Denoted as NB) is connected via the ATM network 80. In this configuration, the ATM network 80 is ATM-LA
In addition to configuring N, it also serves as a network that relays between LAN-A and LAN-B. LAN-A, B and ATM network 80
A protocol conversion device (hereinafter, referred to as a router) 85 called a gateway or a router is provided between them. Although the router 85 may be provided outside the ATM network 80, FIG. 29 shows an example where it is provided inside the ATM network 80.

First, an arbitrary LAN terminal 83 is connected to the ATM network 80.
A case of connecting to any of the ATM terminals 84 will be described. Here, it is assumed that the communication protocol of the ATM network 80 is unified with the well-known IP (Internet Protocol) as one of the network layer protocols in the OSI basic reference model.

When two terminals communicate with each other using the network layer protocol, the network protocols used by both terminals must be the same.
The LAN terminal 83 that communicates with the ATM terminal 84 (hereinafter referred to as the ATM terminal M) is limited to a terminal that uses the same network layer protocol (IP in this example). Now
One of the LAN terminals 83 accommodated in LAN-A (L
AN terminal A) is a terminal that uses IP as a network layer protocol, and a certain A in the ATM network 80
It shall be connected to the TM terminal 84 (denoted as ATM terminal M).

In this case, the LAN terminal A designates an address defined in IP (hereinafter referred to as an IP address) and sends out an address analysis request message. Since connectionless communication is performed in the LAN 82, this address analysis request message is sent to each LAN terminal 83 in LAN-A.
Is sent in broadcast format to the ATM network 80 side router
It is also sent to 85 (the router 85 connected to LAN-A is referred to as router A).

The router A is equipped with an ATM-ARP86. When this address analysis request message is received, the IP address of the destination ATM terminal M is sent to the server 87, and the ATM address of the ATM terminal M having this IP address is sent. To confirm. The server 87 also has an ATM-ARP 88, and analyzes the ATM address of the ATM terminal M from the IP address and returns it to the router A. Upon receiving this ATM address, the router A makes a call setting request to a call processing unit (not shown), and the call processing unit connects between the router A (each router 85 is given an ATM address in advance) and the ATM terminal M. The SVC 91 is set, and thereafter, the LAN terminal A and the ATM terminal M communicate with each other by a protocol higher than the network layer in the OSI basic reference model.

Next, the LAN accommodated in LAN-A
Arbitrary LAN terminal in which terminal A is accommodated in LAN-B
A case of communicating with 83 (LAN terminal B) will be described. Also in this case, it is assumed that the LAN terminals A and B use IP as the network layer protocol. When the LAN terminal A sends the address analysis request message by designating the IP address of the LAN terminal B,
This address analysis request message is sent to the router A in the same manner as described above. However, in this case, unlike the above, the LAN terminal B is not a terminal directly connected to the ATM switch 81, and therefore does not have an ATM address, and a VCC cannot be directly set between the router A and the LAN terminal B. .

Therefore, the router A is the router 85 connected to the LAN-B in which the LAN terminal B is accommodated.
Although a VCC is set between the router A and the router (referred to as router B), the router A stores the ATM address of the router B in the router A or asks the server 87 for the VCC 92 between the router A and the router B. To set.
As a result, the VCC is set between the router A and the router B, and thereafter, the LAN terminal A and the LAN terminal B can communicate with each other using the upper protocol.

There is a method of using SVC and PVC for the above-mentioned VCC. When VCC is set by the SVC method, traffic from multiple LAN terminals flows on the SVC set between the router A and the router B, and
Since the end of the communication can be monitored by the upper layer protocol but cannot be monitored by the network layer protocol, there arises a problem that it is not possible to immediately judge the VCC setting time and the disconnection time.

On the other hand, in the case of the PVC system, the router A
A PVC is set in advance between the router B and the router B, and when the router A receives the IP address, the connection request message is sent to the LAN-B via the PVC and the router B. In this method, the PVC band can be designated in advance, but the band is fixed, and therefore an appropriate band cannot be selected according to communication. Therefore, SVC
Existing LAN terminal and A that can select the required bandwidth at the time of setting
Compared to the connection between the TM terminals, the communication between the existing LAN terminals relaying the ATM network by the PVC method has a problem in that the band of the ATM network cannot be effectively used.

Further, in the future, when a terminal for performing synchronous communication such as voice communication is set in the ATM network in the future, it may be necessary to support communication requiring a fixed band. The SVC method is more suitable for various communications. Therefore, all communication between existing LAN terminals is
Doing it via the VC may reduce the traffic processing capacity of the ATM network.

Next, the LAN accommodated in LAN-A
One of the terminals 83 (referred to as LAN terminal C) and LAN-B
LAN terminal 83 (LAN terminal D
, Which uses a protocol other than IP as a network layer protocol and performs communication between both terminals.

For example, in an existing network (not shown), LA
If NA and LAN-B are directly connected via a router or the like without passing through the ATM network 80, LAN terminal C
There is no problem that the LAN terminal D and the LAN terminal D communicate using the same network layer protocol. Further, even if another LAN (not shown) is interposed between LAN-A and LAN-B, the LAN terminal C and the LAN terminal D communicate with each other without any problem as long as the relay LAN is a connectionless type. be able to.

When an ATM network 80 whose network layer protocol is standardized to IP is provided in such an existing network, LAN terminals using network layer protocols other than IP such as LAN terminals C and D are ATM. There is nothing wrong with not being able to communicate with the terminal 84. But,
When the ATM network 80 which does not support the network layer protocol other than IP is provided between the LAN-A and the LAN-B as shown in FIG. 29, like the LAN terminals C and D which use the network layer protocol other than IP. There arises a problem that communication between existing LAN terminals, which was possible in the past, becomes impossible.

This occurs because the connection type ATM network 80 is provided in the communication network composed of the connectionless type LAN, and the ATM network 80 does not support any network protocol other than the unified network layer protocol (for example, IP). It is a problem, but as a method to solve such a problem,
It is conceivable that the router 85 and the server 87 of the ATM network 80 may support not only the unified network layer protocol but also a plurality of network layer protocols used in the existing LAN. But the router 85
At present, it is almost impossible for the server 87 to analyze a plurality of network layer protocols and perform high-speed routing processing.

As another method, a method of using an address (hereinafter, referred to as a MAC address) of a layer lower than the network layer in the OSI basic reference model, for example, a MAC (Media Access Control) sublayer of the data link layer can be considered. Since the MAC address is commonly assigned to terminals that use most of the network layer protocols,
Even if the TM network 80 uniformly uses IP as the network layer protocol, if the MAC address is used, the IP
Existing LAN that uses a network layer protocol other than
It becomes possible to make a relay connection between the terminals 83. But,
Since it is not possible to identify which LAN 82 the connected LAN terminal 83 is housed, MAC for all LAN 82
The address must be transmitted in a broadcast format, resulting in a problem of increased traffic on the communication network.

A LAN 82 in which a LAN terminal 83 of a connection destination is accommodated without transmitting in a broadcast format to all LANs 82
The above problem can be prevented by identifying the above and setting the VCC only between the router 85 to which the LAN 82 is connected,
For that purpose, a routing table or the like that can identify the ATM address of the router 85 from the MAC address is required. Unlike the IP address, the MAC address is not unified for each LAN segment or sub-network unit, so it is necessary to grasp all MAC addresses and create a routing table.
Creating and maintaining a table in which C addresses are stored imposes a heavy burden on the network administrator and may cause a mistake in registration or update.

[0026]

As described above, when the ATM network is installed in the existing LAN, the existing LAN terminal uses the same network protocol as the network protocol unified in the ATM network. If the SVC is set in the ATM network and the existing LANs are connected in order to carry out the communication between the ATM networks by relaying, the termination time of the communication cannot be monitored, so that the VCC setting time and the disconnection time are immediate. There is a problem that you cannot judge. Also, ATM
If a PVC is set in the network in advance to allow communication between existing LANs, it will not be possible to use a VCC having an appropriate band depending on the contents of communication.
The problem arises of reducing the traffic handling capacity of the network.

Further, when the communication between the existing LAN terminals using the network protocol different from the network protocol unified in the ATM network is performed by relaying the ATM network, the router or the server is made to support a plurality of network layer protocols. If this is done, it will cause them to perform excessive processing, making it difficult to perform high-speed routing processing.

On the other hand, in the method of connecting using the MAC address of the data link layer lower than the network layer, it is difficult to know the accommodating position of the terminal having the MAC address. When sending a message or the like, there arises a problem that the traffic on the ATM network is extremely increased due to the connection. In order to avoid this, if the MAC address of the existing LAN terminal is stored in a table or the like, and the destination LAN is identified from the MAC address for connection, the burden on the network administrator for managing the MAC address increases. In addition, there is a risk of confusion due to mistakes in registration or renewal.

As described above, all of the methods according to the prior art have problems, and therefore, a connection method for efficiently connecting LANs including an ATM network is required. It is an object of the present invention to efficiently connect LAN terminals to each other and LAN terminals to ATM terminals via an ATM network.

[0030]

1 to 10 are explanatory views showing the principle of a method of connecting a LAN including an ATM network according to the present invention.
11 to 15 are basic configuration diagrams of the conversion device according to the present invention.

In the figure, 3 is a LAN terminal, 4 is an ATM terminal,
1 is an ATM network that accommodates an ATM terminal 4 that communicates using a unified network layer protocol, and 2 is an L that accommodates
A plurality of LANs using a plurality of types of network layer protocols for communication between the AN terminals 3, 11 is an ATM switch,
Reference numeral 12 is a conversion means provided between each of the plurality of LANs 2 and the ATM switch 11 in the ATM network 1 for performing address analysis and protocol conversion. 12X is provided between each of the plurality of LANs 2 and the ATM switch 11 and performs address analysis. It is a conversion device that performs protocol conversion.

Reference numerals 21, 23, and 26 denote a plurality of fixed channels virtually set through the ATM switch 11, and 21 denotes a first fixed channel (hereinafter, referred to as a fixed channel) set between the respective conversion means 12. PVC # 1), 23 is each conversion means 12
And a second fixed channel (hereinafter referred to as PVC # 2) set between each ATM terminal 4 and a third fixed channel 26 set between each ATM terminal 4 and between each ATM terminal 4 and each conversion means 12. Fixed channel (hereinafter referred to as PVC # 3).

Variable channels 22, 24 and 25 are virtually set through the ATM switch 11 (hereinafter referred to as SVC).
Is. Further, 31 to 36, 41 to 44, 51 to 55, 61 to 63 are messages (including cellized messages) transmitted and received in the communication network. Further, 40 is an ATM address of the LAN terminal 3 included in the cell. 12a to 12k and 12m to 12n are provided in the conversion device 12X, 12a is LAN information transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving a message of the MAC sublayer protocol of the data link layer to / from the connected LAN 2, and 12b is an ATM switch 11 Other conversion device via 12
An ATM information transmitting / receiving means for transmitting / receiving cellized information to / from the X or ATM terminal 4, 12c stores the identification information assigned to all the conversion devices 12X and the ATM address in the ATM network 1 in association with each other. A conversion device address storage means, 12d is an ATM information transmission / reception means for converting a MAC sublayer protocol message received from LAN 2 into cells.
A cell transmitted from 12b and received from the ATM switch 11 side is converted into a message of the MAC sublayer protocol, and the LAN is converted.
It is a protocol conversion means for transmitting from the information transmitting / receiving means 12a.

Reference numeral 12e designates an address request message for inquiring the MAC address or ATM address of a terminal having a specified network address from the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the connected LAN 2 or an address response message to the address request message. When the message is received, the protocol converter 12d adds the identification information of the own converter 12X to those messages, and then the cells are converted into cells by the protocol converter 12d. When the address conversion message is sent to the provided first fixed channel 21 in the broadcast format and the cell-addressed response message is received from the other conversion device 12X, the other conversion device is sent via the conversion device address storage means 12c. After analyzing the 12X ATM address, for the connection setting processing means 12g A MAC address analysis means for requesting a connection established between the other converter 12X.

Reference numeral 12f denotes an address response message for inquiring the MAC address or ATM address of a terminal having a specified network address from the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the connected LAN 2 or an address response to the address request message. When a message is received, the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3 is converted into address information that can be identified by the ATM address of the own conversion device 12X, and the protocol conversion means 12d forms a cell of a format suitable for the ATM terminal 4 to receive. After conversion, it is sent out in a broadcast format to the second fixed channel 23 provided between all the ATM terminals 4 through the ATM information transmitting / receiving means 12b, and the cell-address response from the ATM terminal 4 is sent. When the message is received, the A
After analyzing the ATM address of the TM terminal 4, the ATM address analyzing means requests the connection setting processing means 12g to set the connection with the previous ATM terminal 4.

Reference numeral 12g is a conversion device 12X to which the other party LAN terminal 3 is connected by the MAC address analyzing means 12e or the ATM address analyzing means 12f or an AT of the other party's ATM terminal 4.
After finishing the analysis of the M address, the own conversion device 12X and the other conversion device 12X or the other AT is requested by the MAC address analysis means 12e or the ATM address analysis means 12f.
It is a connection setting processing means for performing connection setting processing with the M terminal 4. To be more specific, the ATM switch 11 is set via the ATM information transmitting / receiving means 12b so as to specify the ATM addresses of the own conversion device 12 and the other conversion device 12 or the ATM terminal 4 and set the connection between them, that is, the SVC. The control unit (not shown) performs the processing required.

12h is the identification information of the other conversion device 12X from the cell transmitted from the first LAN terminal 3 connected to the other conversion device 12X and received via the first fixed channel 21 and the ATM information transmitting / receiving means 12b. MAC of the first LAN terminal 3
Source address storage means for extracting an address and storing both in correspondence, 12i is a second device connected to the own conversion device 12X
When a message of the MAC sublayer protocol is received from the LAN terminal 3 of the above, it is checked whether the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal 3 of the message is stored in the source address storage means 12h, and the MAC address is stored. If there is a conversion device stored correspondingly 12X
The conversion device address storage means 12c) is indexed by the identification information of the connection device, and when the ATM address of the conversion device 12X is obtained, a connection channel which requests the connection setting processing means 12g to establish a connection with another conversion device 12X. It is a determination means.

When a message is received from the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the connected LAN 2 via the LAN information transmitting / receiving means 12a, 12j extracts the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3 of the transmission source from the message and stores it. The accommodating LAN terminal storing means 12k is a MAC of the destination LAN terminal 3 included in the cell when the cell is received from the ATM switch 11 side through the ATM information transmitting / receiving means 12b.
It is confirmed whether or not the address is stored in the accommodating LAN terminal storage means 12j, and if it is not stored, the protocol conversion of the received cell and the transmission to the LAN2 connected to the own conversion device 12X are stopped. It is a message relay control means for controlling as described above.

When a message is received from the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the connected LAN 2, 12m indicates whether or not the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal 3 of the message is stored in the accommodated LAN terminal storage means 12j. When it is confirmed that the message is stored, message transmission control means for controlling not to transmit the received message to the ATM switch 11 side, 12n stores connection information for all the conversion devices 12X, Protocol conversion means
When the cell 12d is activated by the protocol conversion means 12d when transmitting the cell to the first fixed channel 21 or the second fixed channel 23 in the broadcast format, it is added to the cell to be transmitted to the semi-fixed channel 20. It is a fixed channel selection means for sequentially designating the output route of the conversion device 12X of the connection destination using the connection information in the header information.

The means for solving the problems have been described above. However, the method of connecting a LAN including an ATM network according to the present invention is not sufficient with the explanation of the means alone.
It will be described with reference to FIG.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are diagrams for explaining the principle of the LAN connection method in the case of performing communication between arbitrary LAN terminals 3 by relaying the ATM network 1. FIG. 1 is a basic connection method.
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a connection method including a basic method of transmitting and receiving messages. When a plurality of LANs 2 are connected to an ATM network 1 that accommodates a plurality of ATM terminals 4 that communicate with each other by a unified network layer protocol, the LAN terminals 3 accommodated in each LAN 2 are unified. There are cases where it is desired to perform communication by ATM network 1 relay using a protocol other than the network layer protocol.
In order to enable such connection, in FIG.
A conversion means 12 for performing address analysis and protocol conversion is provided between each of the ANs 2 and the ATM switch 11 in the ATM network 1,
Identification information for identifying the ATM address in the ATM network 1 is added to each conversion means 12 to set a virtual fixed channel 21 between the conversion means 12.

In this state, an arbitrary LAN terminal 3 is connected to another LA
When transmitting to the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in N2, the source LAN terminal 3 specifies the network address of the destination LAN terminal 3 and sends the destination LAN by the message of the MAC sublayer protocol in the data link layer.
Queries the MAC address of the terminal 3. Source LA
Upon receiving this message, the conversion means 12 accommodating the N terminal 3 converts this message into cells and sends them to a plurality of fixed channels 21 in a broadcast format.

Conversion means 12 for accommodating the destination LAN terminal 3
When the destination LAN terminal 3 transmits a message of the MAC sublayer protocol that replies the MAC address of its own terminal as a result of being sent to the LAN terminal 3 accommodating this message, the conversion means 12 accommodating the destination LAN terminal 3 This message is added with the identification information of the own conversion means 12 to form a cell, and then sent to a plurality of fixed channels 21 in a broadcast format.

Source conversion means that received this message
12 performs connection setting processing using the identification information of both conversion means, and thereafter, the conversion means 12 of the transmission source and the transmission destination cellizes the message transmitted from the transmission source and transmission destination LAN terminal 3 by the MAC sublayer protocol. Relay transparently.

In FIG. 2, the messages transmitted and received in FIG. 1 are defined in more detail. Any LA
In order for an arbitrary LAN terminal 3 accommodated in N2 to communicate with a LAN terminal 3 accommodated in another LAN 2, both LANs
When an address request message 31 for inquiring the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal 3 by designating the network address of the network layer protocol used by the terminal 3 is sent by the MAC sublayer protocol of the data link layer,
The conversion means 12 connected to the LAN 2 of the transmission source adds the identification information of the own conversion means 12 to the address request message 31 to create an address request cell 32 that is made into a cell, and generates a plurality of PVs.
It is sent to C # 1 in a broadcast format. This address request cell
Receiving 32, each conversion means 12 converts the address request cell 32 into a MAC sublayer protocol, and transmits it as an address request message 33 to all LAN terminals 3 accommodated in the connected LAN 2 in a broadcast format. To do. When the destination LAN terminal 3 that has received the address request message 33 sends out an address response message 34 informing the MAC address of its own terminal by the MAC sublayer protocol, the destination LAN 2 is connected to the conversion means.
The address response message 34 is added with the identification information of the own conversion means 12 to form a cellized address response cell 35, which is sent to a plurality of PVC # 1 in a broadcast format.

The conversion means 12 of the transmission source that has received the address response cell 35 internally stores the correspondence between the identification information of each conversion means 12 and the ATM address, so that the conversion of the transmission destination extracted from the address response cell 35 is performed. Using the identification information of the means 12 and the identification information of the own conversion means 12, the ATM addresses of both conversion means 12 are identified, and the SVC 22 is set between the conversion means 12 using the identified ATM address.

Thereafter, the source and destination conversion means 12 cellizes the message transmitted by the MAC sublayer protocol from the connected LAN terminal 3 and sends it to the SVC 22 as a message cell 36, and receives it from the SVC 22. By converting the message cell 36 into a message of the MAC sublayer protocol and transmitting it to the connected LAN terminal 3, the message transmitted / received between the source LAN terminal 3 and the destination LAN terminal 3 is relayed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the LAN connection method when an arbitrary LAN terminal 3 accommodated in an arbitrary LAN 2 communicates with an arbitrary ATM terminal 4 in the ATM network 1. In FIG. 3, each ATM terminal 4 has an AT capable of identifying the MAC address assigned to each ATM terminal 4.
The M address is given.

Arbitrary LAN accommodated in Arbitrary LAN 2 for communicating with Arbitrary ATM terminal 4 in ATM network 1.
The terminal 3 designates the network address of the unified network layer protocol in the ATM network 1 and designates the destination AT
When the address request message 41 for inquiring about the ATM address of the M terminal 4 is transmitted by the MAC sublayer protocol of the data link layer, the conversion means 12 to which the source LAN 2 is connected is converted into an address request message by the conversion means 12 itself. A plurality of PVC # s are created by creating an address request cell 42 that is made into a cell including the ATM address created from the identification information.
It is transmitted in 2 to the broadcast format.

The ATM terminal 4 of the transmission destination is an address request cell
When it is identified that the network address in 42 is the address of the own terminal, an address response cell 43 for notifying the ATM address given in advance to the own ATM terminal 4 is created and broadcasted to a plurality of PVC # 2. To send.

The source translating means 12 that has received the address response cell 43 uses the received ATM address of the destination ATM terminal 4 and the ATM address of the self translating means 12 to perform translating means.
A process of setting the SVC 24 between the destination 12 and the destination ATM terminal 4 is performed. Thereafter, the message transmitted from the LAN terminal 3 of the transmission source by the MAC sublayer protocol is made into cells and sent to the SVC 24 as a message cell 44, and the message cell 44 received by the SVC 24 is converted into a message by the MAC sublayer protocol and transmitted. The message transmitted / received between the LAN terminal 3 and the ATM terminal 4 is relayed by sending it to the original LAN terminal 3.

FIG. 4 shows an arbitrary ATM terminal 4 in the ATM network 1.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the principle of a LAN connection method when communicating with an arbitrary LAN terminal 3 accommodated in an arbitrary LAN 2. Also in FIG. 4, each ATM terminal 4 is provided with an ATM address with which the MAC address of each ATM terminal 4 can be identified. The network address of the destination LAN terminal 3 defined by the network layer protocol that is used in the ATM network 1 by the ATM terminal 4 to communicate with the arbitrary LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the arbitrary LAN 2. Is specified and the address request cell 51 inquiring about the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal 3 includes the ATM address of its own ATM terminal 4 and sends it to a plurality of PVC # 2 in a broadcast format.

Upon receiving the address request cell 51, each converting means 12 receives the source ATM terminal 4 in the address request cell 51.
From the ATM address of the ATM terminal 4 to identify the MAC address of the ATM terminal 4 as the MAC address of the source ATM terminal 4 and then convert the address request cell 51 into an address request message 52 by the MAC sublayer protocol It is transmitted in a broadcast format to all LAN terminals 3 accommodated in.

When the destination LAN terminal 3 that has received the address request message 52 sends out an address response message 53 informing the MAC address of its own terminal by the MAC sublayer protocol, the conversion means connected to the destination LAN 2
12 is the source ATM terminal 4 in the address response message 53
The MAC address of the destination LAN terminal 3 and its own conversion means.
An ATM address of the own conversion means 12 is created based on the identification information of 12 and included in the address response message 53 to form a cell, and the cell is transmitted as an address response cell 54 to a plurality of PVC # 2 in a broadcast format.

Source AT receiving address response cell 54
The M terminal 4 uses the identification information of the destination conversion means 12 extracted from the address response cell 54 and the ATM address of the own ATM terminal 4 to transmit the SV between the own ATM terminal 4 and the destination conversion means 12.
Perform the process of setting C25.

After the SVC 25 is set, the destination conversion means 12 converts the cell type message cell 55 sent from the source ATM terminal 4 into a message according to the MAC sublayer protocol, and the destination LAN terminal 3 To the SVC by converting the message according to the MAC sublayer protocol transmitted from the destination LAN terminal 3 to the message cell 55.
By sending it to 25, the communication between the source ATM terminal 4 and the destination LAN terminal 3 is relayed.

FIG. 5 shows an arbitrary ATM terminal 4 in the ATM network 1.
It is a figure explaining the principle of the connection method of LAN when communicating mutually. In FIG. 5, an arbitrary ATM terminal 4 for communicating with another ATM terminal 4 uses the network address of the destination ATM terminal 4 defined by the network layer protocol used in the ATM network 1 in a unified manner. When the address request cell 61 which specifies and sets the ATM address of the own ATM terminal 4 as the address of the source terminal and inquires about the ATM address of the destination ATM terminal 4 is transmitted to a plurality of PVC # 3 in a broadcast format, it is transmitted. When the ATM terminal 4 identifies that the network address in the address request cell 61 is the address of its own terminal, it creates an address response cell 62 for notifying the ATM address given in advance to the own ATM terminal 4 and creates a plurality of cells. PVC # 3
To be sent in broadcast format.

The sender A that received the address response cell 62
The TM terminal 4 uses the ATM addresses of its own ATM terminal 4 and destination ATM terminal 4 to send its own ATM terminal 4 and destination ATM.
The process of setting the SVC 26 between the terminals 4 is performed, and thereafter, the cell type message cell 63 is transmitted and received between the source ATM terminal 4 and the destination ATM terminal 4.

FIG. 6 shows that when the address request message is sent to the LAN terminal 3 that has received the address request message in the past, the SVC is set in the first fixed channel without sending it in the broadcast format and the address is set. It is a figure explaining the principle of the connection method of LAN which sends a request message. In FIG. 6, each conversion means 12 is sent from the first LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the first conversion means 12 on the first fixed channel 21, and the first conversion means 12 is transmitted. When the cell to which the identification information of the first conversion means 12 is added is received, the identification information of the first conversion means 12 and the MAC address of the first LAN terminal 3 are extracted from the cell, and both are associated. Then, it is stored in the own conversion means 12.

Thereafter, the LA connected to the own conversion means 12
Destination LAN from the second LAN terminal 3 accommodated in N2
When the message specifying the MAC address of the terminal 3 is received, the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal 3 is the first
If the identification information of the first conversion means 12 correspondingly stored as the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3 is stored in the self conversion means 12, then all the conversion means stored therein are confirmed. The ATM address of the first conversion means 12 is created using the identification information of the above and the correspondence information of the ATM address, and the connection setting process is started.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the LAN connection method when the ATM address has a hierarchical structure. Figure 7
In the above, the ATM address used in the ATM network 1 is hierarchized into an upper address part and a lower address part,
Upon receiving the message transmitted from the arbitrary LAN terminal 3 to the arbitrary ATM terminal 4, the conversion means 12 extracts the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3 from the message, and the identification information of the own conversion means 12 is stored in the upper address part. , The lower address part is configured by the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3 to create a virtual ATM address 40 of the LAN terminal 3,
ATM including the above message in a cellized message
It is sent to the network 1.

In FIG. 8, the conversion means 12 is an L other than the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the own conversion means 12.
LAN when message for AN terminal 3 is received
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the principle of a LAN connection method for stopping the relay of the message for No. 2. In FIG.
When receiving a message from each LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the own converting means 12, the converting means 12 extracts the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3 from the message and uses it as the accommodating LAN terminal MAC address. Store it inside.

After that, when the cell is received through the ATM switch 11, the conversion means 12 determines that the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal 3 included in the cell is the own conversion means 12.
It is confirmed whether or not it is stored as the accommodating LAN terminal MAC address inside, and if it is not stored, the protocol conversion of the received cell and the relay to the LAN 2 are controlled to be stopped.

FIG. 9 shows a message to the ATM network 1 side when the converting means 12 receives a message to another LAN terminal 3 in the same LAN 3 from the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the own converting means 12. It is a figure explaining the principle of the connection method of LAN which stops the transmission of.
In FIG. 9, when the conversion means 12 receives the first message from the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the conversion means 12, the conversion means 12 obtains the MAC address of the transmission source LAN terminal 3 from the message. LAN to extract and store
It is stored internally as a terminal MAC address.

After that, when the second message is received from any LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2,
When it is confirmed whether or not the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal of the second message is stored as the accommodating LAN terminal MAC address inside the own conversion means 12, and it is confirmed that the MAC address is stored, Controls to stop the transmission of the received second message into the ATM network 1.

FIG. 10 shows a plurality of fixed channels (PVC # 1 or PVC # 2) connected to the conversion means 12 when the fixed channels are used without previously assigning different VPI and VCI respectively. It is a figure explaining the principle of the connection method of the LAN which sets. In FIG. 10, a plurality of Ps each connected to each conversion means 12 are provided.
The same VPI and VCI are given to VC # 1 and PVC # 2, and when each conversion means 12 uses PVC # 1 or PVC # 2, connection is made by the header information added to the cell to be transmitted in the ATM switch 11 The unicast PVC # 1 or PVC # 2 is set in the ATM switch 11 by designating the output route of the conversion means 12 described above.

[0067]

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, when the network layer protocols used in the ATM network 1 are standardized, ATM is used between existing LAN terminals 3 which use network layer protocols other than the standardized network layer.
It becomes possible to relay the network 1 and connect efficiently.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the existing LAN 2 having no ATM address.
And the ATM terminal 4 in the ATM network 1 can be efficiently connected.

In FIG. 5, the ATM network 1 is an existing LA.
LA according to FIGS. 3 and 4 when connected to N2
The ATM terminals 4 can be connected without being inconsistent with the connection method between the N terminal 3 and the ATM terminal 4.

In FIG. 6, when the converting means 12 is connected from the LAN terminal 3 connected to another converting means 12, the MAC address of the LAN terminal and the identification information of the counterpart converting means 12 are stored in association with each other. After that, the self-conversion means 12
LAN stored first from the LAN terminal 3 connected to
When the address request message is sent to the terminal 3, the stored identification information of the other conversion means 12 is confirmed, and the identification information of all the conversion means 12 stored separately and its A
AT of the other party conversion means 12 using the correspondence information of the TM address
Since the M address is created, the call setting process is started, and the address request message is sent using the SVC set by this, it is not necessary to send it in the broadcast format on the PVC.
It is possible to reduce unnecessary traffic on the PVC.

In FIG. 7, the ATM address has a hierarchical structure, and the L address for accommodating each LAN terminal 3 in the upper address part.
Since the lower address part including the information for identifying the conversion means 12 to which the AN 2 is connected is configured by the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3, the address conversion becomes easy when the LAN terminal 3 and the ATM terminal 4 are connected.

In FIG. 8, each conversion means 12 is a LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the own conversion means 12.
By storing the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3 when a message is sent from the
When the response to the message transmitted from the terminal 3 is transmitted in the broadcast format, each conversion means 12 determines whether or not the LAN terminal 3 which is the transmission destination of the message is connected to the own conversion means 12. be able to. For this reason, the conversion means 12 not accommodating the first transmission source LAN terminal 3 does not send a message to the LAN 3 connected to the own conversion means 12, so that unnecessary traffic to the LAN 3 is reduced. You can

In FIG. 9, each converting means 12 receives a message (first message) from the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the converting means 12,
The network address of the LAN terminal 3 is stored, and thereafter, a message (second message) is sent from the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the own conversion means 12.
When the message is received, if the network address of the destination LAN terminal of the message is stored, the transmission of the received second message into the ATM network 1 is stopped. Therefore, the LAN in the LAN 2 connected to each conversion means 12
It is possible to reduce invalid traffic on the ATM network 1 side without transmitting a message transmitted and received between the terminals 3 to the ATM network 1 side.

In FIG. 10, a plurality of PVC # 1s or Ps having different VPIs and VCIs are provided in the respective conversion means 12.
When the conversion means 12 uses PVC # 1 or PVC # 2 without setting the VC # 2, the header information added to the cell to be transmitted in the ATM switch 11 determines the output route of the conversion means 12 of the connection destination. Unicast P by specifying
Since VC # 1 or PVC # 2 is set, it is possible to efficiently set a large number of fixed channels.

The conversion device 12X of FIG. 11 has the same structure as that of the conversion means 12 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, and therefore is the same as the conversion means 12 shown in FIGS. Has the effect of. In addition to the configuration of the conversion device 12X of FIG. 11, each conversion device 12X of FIGS. 12, 13, 14, and 15 has the operation of the conversion means 12 in FIG. 6, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG. Since it has the configuration necessary for performing, it has the same operation as the conversion means 12 in FIGS. 6, 8, 9, and 10, respectively.

[0076]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 16 to 27 show L including an ATM network according to the present invention.
FIG. 16 illustrates an embodiment of an AN connection method and a conversion device, and FIG. 16 is a communication sequence diagram (LAN) of an embodiment of the present invention.
17 to 19 are communication sequence diagrams (communication from LAN terminal to ATM terminal) of the present invention, FIG.
20 to 22 are communication sequence diagrams of the embodiment of the present invention (communication from ATM terminal to LAN terminal), and FIGS. 23 to 25 are communication sequence diagrams of the embodiment of the present invention (communication between ATM terminals), FIG.
Is an explanatory diagram of stored information of an embodiment table of the present invention, and FIG. 27 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a conversion device according to the present invention.

Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same objects, 1 is an ATM network, 2 is a LAN, 3 is a LAN terminal, 4 is an ATM terminal, 11 is an ATM switch, and 12 is a converter (see FIGS.
(Implementation form of the conversion means 12 in FIG. 10), 13 is an interface circuit provided between the ATM switch 11 and the ATM terminal 4, and 14 is a control unit (hereinafter, referred to as CC) for controlling the ATM network 1. Also, 21, 23, and 26 are PVCs (fixed channels), 21 is PVC # 1, 23 is PVC # 2, and 26 is P #.
VC # 3. Further, reference numerals 22, 24 and 25 are SVCs (variable channels). 31 to 63, 101 to 156 (including suffixed numbers and unused numbers) are messages (including various messages, MAC frames or cells).

12X is a converter according to the present invention, 12 _-10 , 12
_-20, 12 _-30 in the board constituting the converter 12X, 12 _-10
Is a LAN interface board, _12-20 is an ATM interface board, and _12-30 is a network management board. Further, 12 _{-11 to} 12 _-16 are respective parts constituting the LAN interface board 12 _-10 , 12 _-11 is a processor (hereinafter, referred to as CPU), 12 _-12 is a read-only memory (hereinafter,
ROM), 12 _-13 are memories (hereinafter referred to as MEM), 12 _-14 and 12 _-15 are drivers, and 12 _-16 are CPU buses. 12
_-21 to 12 _-26 in parts constituting the ATM interface board 12 _-20, 12 _{- 21} is CPU, 12 _-22 is ROM, 12
_-23 is a MEM, _12-24 and _12-25 are drivers, and _12-26 is a CPU bus. 12 _{-31 to} 12 _-35 are parts that compose the network management board 12 _-30 , and 12 _-31 is a CPU, 12
_-32 is ROM, 12 _-33 is MEM, 12 _-34 is driver, 12
_-35 is a CPU bus. _12-40 is a system bus.

16 to 25, LAN2,
LAN terminal 3, ATM terminal 4, converter 12, PVC # 1
As for a plurality of existing components such as # 3, only parts necessary for explanation are illustrated. The ATM terminal 4 is an ATM
Although it is a terminal provided in the network 1, for convenience of illustration, an AT
It is shown outside the M-network 1.

First, an LA including an ATM network according to the present invention
An example of the N connection method will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 16 to 26. Common matters such as a description method for communication sequence diagrams in FIGS. 16 to 25 will be described in the description of FIG. Description is omitted in other figures.

First, an embodiment of claim 2 of the present invention will be described mainly using FIG. 16 shows a communication sequence of an embodiment of a LAN connecting method based on the principle explanatory diagram of FIG. 2, and the principle diagram is shown in FIG.
Since it also serves as an embodiment, the following description will be made with reference to FIG.

In claim 2, any LAN terminal 3 accommodated in any LAN 2 relays the ATM network 1 and other L
The connection method is specified when connecting to an arbitrary LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the AN 2, and the connection target is limited in each of claims 3 to 5, but the conversion unit 12 is a LAN.
Not only the terminals 3 are connected to each other, but also the ATM terminals 4 defined in claim 3 or 4 are connected to each ATM terminal 4 not only to the conversion unit 12 but also to another ATM.
Since it is usual to connect to the terminal 4, the embodiment will be described including the cell transmission status to terminals not subject to communication.

Therefore, although PVC # 2 is not shown in FIG. 2, PVC # 1 and PVC # are provided in each converter 12 in FIG.
A state in which # 2 is set is illustrated, and A in the ATM network 1 that does not directly communicate with each other when the LAN terminals 3 are connected to each other.
A cell transmitted to the TM terminal 4 is also illustrated. When the connection of claim 5 is included, each conversion unit 12 receives cells by PVC # 3 when connected from the ATM terminal 4, but PVC # 3 does not receive cells from each ATM terminal 4. Since it is set for all ATM terminals 4 and all conversion units 12, PVC # is provided between the ATM terminals 4 and conversion units 12.
2 and PVC # 3 will be set (actually, this part can be the same fixed channel, but for convenience of explanation, it is set to be double). However, in FIG. 16, illustration and description of PVC # 3 are omitted to avoid complication.

In the description, when referring to each component in FIG. 16 individually, the LAN terminal 3 and the LAN of the transmission source
2 are LAN terminal A and LAN-A, and destination L
AN terminal 3 and LAN 2 are LAN terminals B and L, respectively.
The conversion units 12 connected to the ATM terminal B, the LAN terminal A, the LAN terminal A, the LAN terminal A, and the ATM terminal 4 are CV-A, respectively.
And CV-B.

LAN-A and LAN-B are existing LANs
In such a case, the plurality of LAN terminals 3 accommodated in each LAN 2 often use different protocols as network layer protocols in the OSI basic reference model.
The terminal A and the LAN terminal B use the above-mentioned IP as the network layer protocol, and the ATM terminal 4 in the ATM network 1 will be described with an example in which the network layer protocol is unified to IP.

When each terminal connects by using the network layer protocol, the network address is used as the address of the transmitting / receiving terminal. When the IP is used as the network layer protocol, the network address is referred to as an IP address, and the LAN The IP addresses of the terminal A, the LAN terminal B, and the ATM terminal D are represented by A, B, and C, respectively. As described above, each terminal can connect using the address (MAC address) defined in the MAC sublayer protocol of the data link layer corresponding to the lower layer (second layer) of the network layer protocol in the OSI basic reference model. Yes, but MAC of LAN terminal A and LAN terminal B
The addresses are represented by a and b, respectively.

The claim 1 is an ATM in which IP is uniformly used as a network layer protocol between existing LAN terminals using a network layer protocol other than IP.
Since the connection is possible by relaying the network 1, the MAC address is also used when connecting the LAN terminal A and the LAN terminal B using IP as described above. When a communication network consisting of the LAN 2 and the ATM network 1 is used by one company, the IP address is given a unified number for each sub-network unit of the company LAN, for example, each LAN 2 unit in FIG. Normal, but MAC
Since an independent number is assigned to each terminal and it is not unified for each sub-network, the source terminal may know the IP address of the destination terminal, but MA
The connection is started without knowing the C address. Therefore, the source terminal performs a process of inquiring about the MAC address of the other party by designating the network address (IP address in this case) of the destination terminal before performing communication. MAC
Address Analysis Protocol (MAC Address Resolution Pro
tcol, hereinafter referred to as MAC-ARP).

Based on the above, an embodiment of a LAN connecting method will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 16 using the LAN terminal A as a source terminal and the LAN terminal B as a destination terminal. When the LAN terminal A connects to the LAN terminal B, first, the destination LAN
MAC-ARP inquiring about the MAC address of terminal B
A request frame 31 (implementation form of the address request message 31 in FIG. 1) is transmitted. As shown in Figure 16, M
In the AC-ARP request frame 31, the MAC address of the transmission destination terminal, the MAC address of the transmission source terminal, the MAC address of the transmission source terminal, the network address of the transmission source terminal (here, the IP address) , Destination terminal MAC address, destination terminal IP
Set the address. Of the above, the top two addresses are largely illustrated as MAC headers in the MAC-ARP request frame 31 of FIG. Also, MAC
An operation code for identifying whether the MAC-ARP frame is a request frame for inquiring an address or a reply frame for responding to an address is included in a portion of the ARP request frame 31 where the end code is not described.

As described above, since the source LAN terminal A cannot specify the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal B, the MAC address of the destination terminal in the MAC header must be transmitted in broadcast format to all the other terminals. Code (B
D) and write the MAC address "a" of its own terminal to the MAC address of the source terminal. Hereinafter, “a” is written in the MAC address of the source terminal, “A” is written in the IP address of the source terminal, and “B” is written in the IP address of the destination terminal, but the MAC address of the source terminal is blank (in the figure, Enter (?) And send. The above MAC-ARP request frame 31 is transmitted from the LAN terminal A to each LAN terminal in the LAN-A in a connectionless manner, and at the same time is transmitted to the conversion unit CV-A in the ATM network 1.

The CV-A receives the MAC-ARP request frame 31, but at the time of reception, the IP address "A" of the destination terminal is the IP address of the LAN terminal 3 or the IP address of the ATM terminal 4. Since it is unknown whether the MAC-ARP request frame 31 is made into a cell and transmitted to all the other conversion units 12 and all the ATM terminals 4. The former will be transmitted in the broadcast format via PVC # 1 and the latter will be transmitted in PVC # 2.
-A sends M to all other converters 12 via PVC # 1
AC-ARP request cell 32 (cellized MAC-
In addition to the ARP request frame referred to as MAC-ARP request cell), a cell to be transmitted to all ATM terminals 4 via PVC # 2 is created. The latter is a cell for inquiring the ATM address of the destination ATM terminal 4 and is therefore called an ATM-ARP request cell.

The CV-A creates two ARP request cells as described above. First, a process common to both ARP request cells will be described. When the CV-A receives the MAC-ARP request frame 31, the CV-A first performs the process described as "registration" in FIG. This shows the IP address table shown in FIG. 20, which is a table in which the MAC address can be searched from the IP address. 16 to 25 are symbols for identifying a table provided in the conversion unit 12 (or an appropriate memory in the ATM network 1), and the numbers are shown in FIG. It is written so as to match the number given to each table. 26 of 4
The main search contents are shown for two tables.
In addition to the search shown in the figure, the search can be performed in the opposite direction, or multiple pieces of information can be searched for, such as the MAC address routing table of, and the final result is obtained by re-searching using the information obtained in the first search. Some can get Below, each table is labeled with a name for easy understanding.
It is noted by adding 26 to.

From the MAC-ARP request frame 31 to CV-A, the IP address "A" of the LAN terminal A and the MAC
The address "a" is extracted and stored in the IP address table in a corresponding manner. This is the content of "registration",
FIG. 16 shows that “a → A” is registered in association with a and A. This registration is also part of the operation of the connection method according to claim 8 (see FIG. 8), and the embodiment of claim 8 will be described later.

Next, a method of creating the MAC-ARP request cell 32 will be described. When CV-A converts the MAC-ARP request frame 31 into ATM, first,
Identification information of the own conversion unit (CV-A) is added to the received MAC-ARP request frame 31. Although the port number in the ATM network 1 is used as the identification information of the conversion unit 12,
In the case of CV-A, the port number "i" described with the ATM address "I *" at the bottom of CV-A in FIG. 16 is used. As a result, in the created MAC-ARP request cell 32, as shown in FIG. 16, the MAC-ARP request frame 31 including the MAC header is taken in as it is, and the port number "i" of the CV-A precedes it. It will be added.

Next, the CV-A creates the ATM header required to pass the MAC-ARP request cell 32 into the ATM switch 11. The ATM header (the part shown largely in FIG. 16) added to the beginning of the MAC-ARP request cell 32 is composed of a TAG part and a VCI part.
Information for designating the destination of the virtual channel for transmitting the cell (for example, port number) is in the G section, and an identifier of the virtual channel for transmitting the cell in the VCI section, that is, VPI / V.
CI number (hereinafter, VPI number and VCI number together
CI may be abbreviated). "Search" described in FIG. 16 indicates a process necessary for creating this ATM header.

First, the VCI section will be described. CV-A receives the MAC-ARP request frame 31 and then MA
The destination MAC address of the C header is read, and if a virtual channel is set for the destination terminal having that MAC address, the virtual channel number (VPI / VCI)
And set it in the VCI section. The MAC address routing table is used at this time. The MAC address routing table is as shown in FIG.
It is a table capable of searching VPI / VCI from the MAC address.

However, in this case, since "BC", that is, transmission in the broadcast format is designated as the destination MAC address, it is impossible to retrieve the VCI value by searching the MAC address routing table. In this case, the default value of the MAC address routing table is set in the VCI section. In FIG. 16, this default value is shown as “F” (not shown in FIG. 26), but setting “F” in the VCI section means sending out the cell in the broadcast format.

Next, the TAG section will be described. The port number of the destination terminal or device is specified in the TAG section, and the port number is searched using the VC table.
The VC table has the V
This is a table for searching the port number from the PI / VCI number. As described above, in this case, the VPI / VC of the transmission destination is used.
Since I cannot be determined, the VPI / VCI number is set to "F" and the port number is searched. The lower part of CV-A in Fig. 16 (A
"Outside of TM network 1)""VCI → TA
The part “G” indicates that “# 1” and “# 2” are searched as the setting information of the TAG part when the VCI is “F” in the VC table stored in the CV-A. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 16, the VC table is searched using "F" to obtain "# 1" and "# 2", but this "# 1" is P
VC # 1 and "# 2" mean PVC # 2. That is, in this case the cells are PVC # 1 and PVC instead of ports.
Set the TAG part to transmit on # 2.

As described above, when CV-A broadcasts to all converters 12, PVC # 1 and all ATs are transmitted.
PVC # for broadcast transfer to M terminal 4
16, the TAG part of the MAC-ARP request cell 32 to be sent to all converters 12 including CV-B (not shown except for CV-B) is # 1 as shown in FIG.
Of all ATM terminals 4 (ATM terminal C
# 2 is set in the TAG portion of the ATM-ARP request cell 36 to be transmitted to other than (not shown). This is shown in FIG. 16 as “Search F → # 1” and “Search F → #”.
2 ”.

When # 1 is set in the TAG section as described above, the CV-A transmits the MAC-ARP request cell 32 to all PVCs # 1 in a broadcast format. As is clear from FIG. 16, the MAC-ARP request cell 32 is an ATM header (TAG part and V
CI part) and CV-A port number “i” are added, and the received MAC-ARP request frame 31 is A
It is a cell that is transparently transferred in the TM network 1.

MAC-ARP request frame
In order to unify the message frames input to the ATM network 1 including 31 including cells into a prescribed cell length, a frame having a large amount of information is divided into a plurality of cells and transferred in the ATM network 1. Although the divided cells are assembled on the receiving side, since this function is known as a function of the ATM switch, the description of the dividing / assembling process will be omitted.

Next, a method of creating the ATM-ARP request cell 36 to be transmitted to the ATM terminal 4 via the PVC # 2 will be described. Since the ATM terminal 4 cannot receive the cell of the MAC-ARP request cell 32 format, the ATM-
The ARP request cell 36 is different from the MAC-ARP request cell 32. When cells are transmitted / received between the ATM terminals 4, basically, only the ATM address can be used (detailed in the description of FIG. 5).
The TM-ARP request cell 36 does not need the MAC address attached to the MAC-APR request frame 31. Therefore, the ATM-ARP request cell 36
Does not take in the MAC address internally, but sets the ATM address and IP address of the destination terminal and the ATM address and IP address of the source terminal after the ATM header.

Therefore, the ATM-ARP request cell 36
In addition to the IP addresses of the source and destination terminals, it is necessary to set the ATM address of the source terminal, but since the source terminal is the LAN terminal 3, the MAC-ARP request frame 31 includes the source The ATM address of the terminal is not set. Therefore, the CV-A converts the source MAC address "a" into an ATM address when creating the ATM-ARP request cell 36 to be sent to the PVC # 2.

Although there are various conversion methods, an embodiment to which claim 6 is applied will be described here. Fig. 16
As shown in, the CV-A port number (corresponding to identification information) is "i" and the ATM address is "I *". This "I" is the upper address part of the ATM address.
"*" Indicates a lower address section (* may be anything). Claim 6, as described with reference to FIG.
The ATM address of the N terminal 3 and the upper address section including the identification information of the conversion section 12 accommodating the LAN terminal 3 and LA
This is a method of configuring the lower address portion configured by the MAC address of the N terminal 3. Therefore, when claim 6 is applied, "I" is a code with which the port number "i" can be identified, and the ATM address of the LAN terminal A is "I" for the upper address part and the MAC address of the LAN terminal A for the lower address part. Create as address "a". The ATM address thus combined is described as "Ia".
"a" also serves as one of the CV-A ATM addresses "I *", that is, there are as many CV-A ATM addresses as there are LAN terminals 3 in LAN-A.

If "i" is read from "I" in the upper address part of "Ia", "a" in the lower address part is read.
Since it can be confirmed that the LAN terminal A having the MAC address of "1" is accommodated in the LAN-A connected to the conversion unit 12 (CV-A in this example) having the port number "i", the code "Ia""Is the ATM network 1 of the LAN terminal 3
Plays the role of ATM address in

As a concrete process, CV-A in FIG.
The MAC address "a" of the transmission source LAN terminal A in the AC-APR request frame 31 is read out, and the own conversion unit CV is read.
-The ATM address "Ia" is created in combination with the code "I" including the port number "i" of A (actually, it may be "I" extracted from the ATM address "I *").
-Store this "Ia" in the address of the source terminal of the ARP request cell 36. Other information is MAC-AR
Same as the contents of P request frame 31, but ATM
-In the ARP request cell 36, the MAC header part of the MAC-ARP request frame 31 ("BC" and "a")
The port number i of the transmission source converter 12 is not added because "Ia" is used.

Further, "F" is set in the VCI portion of the ATM header of the ATM-ARP request cell 36, as in the MAC-ARP request cell 32, and "# 2" is set in the TAG portion as described above. To be done. This ATM-ARP
The request cell 36 is transmitted to PVC # 2 in a broadcast format.

As described above, the CV-A creates cells of two different formats, but the format is basically determined by referring to the upper protocol. In addition, when two types of “# 1” and “# 2” are detected when searching the VC table, cells of different formats can be created by predefining the format of cells to be created for each. Yes (detailed description is omitted).

Next, the operation of the receiving side of the ARP request cell will be described. First, the operation of the receiving side of the ATM-ARP request cell 36 will be described. The ATM-ARP request cell 36 transmitted to all PVC # 2 in a broadcast format is received by all ATM terminals 4, but each ATM terminal 4 receives ATM-ARP.
When the request cell 36 is received, it is confirmed whether or not the IP address B of the destination terminal is its own IP address. However, the IP address "B" of the destination terminal in this case is L
Since it belongs to the AN terminal, there is no corresponding ATM terminal 4. For example, in the case of the ATM terminal D of FIG. 16, the received IP address "B" is compared with its own IP address "D", but since they do not match, the received ATM-ARP request cell 36 is discarded. The same applies to the other ATM terminals 4.

On the other hand, the MAC-ARP request cell 32 transmitted from the CV-A to the PVC # 1 in the broadcast format is received by all the other conversion units 12, and the conversion units 12 connect to the respective LAN2. Is transmitted to all the LAN terminals 3 in the broadcast format, this operation will be described by taking the conversion unit CV-B to which the destination LAN terminal B is connected as an example.

CV-B is a MAC-ARP request cell
When 32 is received, the TAG section and VCI section used only in the ATM switch 11 are removed, and then the search shown in FIG. 16 is performed. Shows the ATM address table described in FIG. The ATM address table is a table that stores the correspondence between the ATM address and port number of each conversion unit 12 or ATM terminal 4, and is a table that can search both the ATM address and port number and the port number and ATM address. 16 CV-A and CV-
As described in the lower part of B (outside the ATM network 1), each conversion unit 12 stores the correspondence information of the port numbers and ATM addresses of all the conversion units 12 in advance, but the ATM address table shows the correspondence. It is also a table that stores information.

CV-B searches for MAC-
The port number i of the transmission source conversion unit CV-A is extracted from the ARP request cell 32 and the ATM address table is searched using this "i". In this example, the AT of the CV-A is used.
The M address “I *” is searched (only “I” is shown in FIG. 16). Next, the CV-B registers this "I" in the table in correspondence with the MAC address "a" of the transmission source LAN terminal A. The table is shown in FIG. 26 as a MAC address routing table.
It is a table that can retrieve ATM address and VPI / VCI from C address. This registration is performed as a part of the connection method according to claim 6, and details will be described later as an example of claim 6.

Next, the CV-B converts the portion of the MAC-ARP request cell 32 excluding the port number "i" of the CV-A into a message frame of the MAC sublayer protocol that can be received by the existing LAN terminal. The subsequent message frame has exactly the same contents as the MAC-ARP request frame 31 transmitted by the transmission source LAN terminal A, as shown as a MAC-ARP request frame 33 in FIG. CV-B transmits this MAC-ARP request frame 33 to LAN-B in a connectionless format.

Each LAN terminal 3 of LAN-B has MAC-A
When receiving the RP request frame 33, the destination LAN
The IP address “B” of the terminal confirms whether or not it is its own IP address. Since the LAN terminal B has the IP address “B” of its own address, the LAN terminal B sends its own address to the MAC-ARP request frame 33. A message (called a MAC-ARP reply frame) that responds with the MAC address is created by the MAC sublayer protocol. MAC-A
The RP reply frame 34 (which is an implementation form of the address response message 34 in FIG. 2) writes its own MAC address in the contents of the received MAC-ARP request frame 33, and replies (replies) an operational code not shown. It has been changed to code.

Therefore, the MAC-ARP reply frame
The configuration of 34 is the same as that of the MAC-ARP request frame 31, but in this case, the LAN terminal B is the source terminal and LA
Since the N terminal A is the destination terminal, the received MAC address a of the LAN terminal A is included in the MAC header of the destination terminal M.
Although the order of the MAC-ARP request frame 31 and each address is exchanged, such as being set as an AC address, the M of the destination LAN terminal B whose contents are unknown
Only "b" is written in the AC address part. If it is necessary to avoid confusion, MAC-
The destination of a frame or cell to be transmitted in the reverse direction such as the ARP reply frame 34 (LAN terminal A which is the first source terminal in this example) is referred to as the destination or the other party.

CV-B sends MAC-AR from LAN terminal B.
When the P reply frame 34 is received, the IP address “B” and the MAC address “b” of the LAN terminal B extracted from the MAC-ARP reply frame 34 are registered in the IP address table in association with each other. This operation is to obtain the effect of claim 7 as in the case of CV-A, but the details of the embodiment of claim 8 will be described later.

Next, the CV-B searches the MAC address routing table for the port or virtual channel (SVC) to which the device having the destination MAC address "a" is connected. At this point, the MAC address "a" is searched. Since the SVC is not set for the LAN terminal A having the same, VPI / VCI cannot be obtained. But M
MAC-ARP is included in the AC address routing table.
When the request frame 33 is received, the MAC address “a” and the ATM address “I *” of the CV-A are registered in correspondence with each other.
The M address “I *” is obtained (described as “i → I” in the figure). Therefore, this ATM address "I
Although it is possible to perform the process of setting the SVC for "*", since the receiving side does not normally make a channel setting request, the LAN terminal B that is not the original transmission source.
Or SVC set from CV-B sends the ATM-ARP reply cell 43 _-1 to set the "F" to the VCI unit without a broadcast format.

By searching the MAC address routing table, the VPI /
When the VCI is not obtained, the CV-B searches the VC table with the default value "F". In this search, CV-
As in the case of A, # 1 and # 2 are searched, so PVC #
The MAC-ARP reply frame 34 is made into a cell and transmitted to 1 and PVC # 2. However, in the following, P
Only the transmission of cells to VC # 1 will be described, and the cells transmitted to PVC # 2 are not shown in FIG.

Here, the CV-B cell-assembles the received MAC-ARP reply frame 34 to create the MAC-ARP reply cell 35 as in the case of the CV-A. The CV-B port number “j” is added as identification information of the conversion unit 12. Also, MA
In the TAG part of the C-ARP reply cell 35, # 1 (PVC
# 1) is set, and "F" is set in the VCI section.
The CV-B transmits the created MAC-ARP reply cell 35 to all other conversion units 12 in a broadcast format via a plurality of PVC # 1.

The MAC-ARP reply cell 35 is received by all the other conversion units 12. CV- which is one of them
When A receives the MAC-ARP reply cell 35, it first C
Similar to what V-B does, first, the ATM address table is searched for the ATM address of the sender having the port number j. In this example, the ATM address of the sender is used as the port number of CV-B in the upper address part. The CV-B ATM address "J *" (only "J" is shown in FIG. 16) including "j" is searched.

Next, the CV-A registers this "J" in the MAC address routing table in association with the MAC address "b" of the LAN terminal B which is the source terminal at this time. When these are done, CV-A becomes MAC-AR
The variable channel setting process is started without transmitting the P reply cell 35 to the LAN-A.

Variable channels are set by an AT (not shown).
This is performed by making a call setting request to the processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as CC) of the M switch, but at the time of the call setting request, it is necessary to specify the ATM addresses of the source terminal and the destination terminal. Since the CV-A knows its own ATM address "I *", by adding the MAC address "a" of the source LAN terminal A to its lower address part, the source L
The ATM address "Ia" of the AN terminal A is created. Further, since the ATM address “J *” of the CV-B of the transmission destination is identified by the above processing, the MAC of the transmission destination LAN terminal B is included in the lower address portion (corresponding to the portion of “*”).
The ATM address "Jb" of the destination LAN terminal B can also be created by adding the address "b".

CV-A is the AT of the transmission source LAN terminal A.
A call setup request is made to the CC using the M address "Ia" and the ATM address "Jb" of the destination LAN terminal B (actually acting as the ATM address of CV-B). When the CC receives this request, it determines the VPI / VCI and sets the variable channel (SVC) 22, but as is clear from the figure, the SVC 22 is not directly set between the LAN terminal A and the LAN terminal B. , CV-A and CV-B. The communication mode after the VPI / VCI determination and the SVC setting will be described later with an example of the connection between the LAN terminal 3 and the ATM terminal 4, and the detailed description will be omitted here.

After VPI / VCI is determined, CV-
A and CV-B cellize message frames (called MAC frames) by the MAC sublayer protocol sent from LAN terminal A and LAN terminal B via LAN-A and LAN-B, respectively, and at the same time, VCI of ATM header.
SPI by specifying the VPI / VCI of SVC
The cellized message sent to the VC22 and received from the SVC22 side is converted into a MAC frame and each LA is converted.
It is sent to N2 in a connectionless format (not shown).

In the above example, LAN terminal A and LAN terminal B
Made a connection by designating an IP address, but as is clear from FIG. 16 and the above description, even if the LAN terminals A and B are LAN terminals using a network layer protocol other than IP, Similarly, both terminals can be easily connected by relaying the ATM network 1.

Next, an embodiment of claim 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. Claim 3 is a connection method for connecting from any LAN terminal 3 accommodated in any LAN 2 to any ATM terminal 4 in the ATM network 1 for communication. , LAN 2 are LAN terminals A and LAN-A, the destination ATM terminal 4 is ATM terminal D, and the conversion unit 12 connected to LAN-A is CV-A.

In FIG. 17, the transmission source LAN terminal A designates the IP address "D" of the transmission destination ATM terminal D and sets M
The AC-APR request frame 41 is transmitted, but its configuration is the same as the MAC-APR request frame 31 described in FIG. Upon receiving the MAC-APR request frame 41, the CV-A registers the MAC address "a" and the IP address "A" of the LAN terminal A in the IP address table in association with each other (related to claim 8).

Next, the CV-A searches the VC table for the port number of the transmission destination. In FIG. 16, the VC table is searched after the MAC address routing table is searched first.
If the AC address is BC, use "F" to directly input V
It is also possible to search the C table. In Figure 17, M
Since the destination of the MAC header of the AC-APR request frame 41 is BC, it is possible to directly use VC by using "F".
The example which searches a table is shown.

In this example, as in FIG. 16, CV-A
In the internal VC table, # 1, # 2 corresponding to "F"
Since (PVC # 1, PVC # 2) is stored, M
When the AC-APR request frame 41 is made into cells, # 1 or # 2 is set in the TAG section, and “F” is set in the VCI section. As in FIG. 16, the cell with the TAG part # 1 is transmitted to all the conversion parts 12 via PVC # 1,
The cells with the AG section # 2 are all ATM through PVC # 2.
Although it is transmitted to the terminal 4, all the conversion units 12 are transmitted via PVC # 1.
16 is the same as the MAC-APR request cell 32 shown in FIG. 16, the illustration and description thereof will be omitted.
The ATM-APR request cell 42 _-1 transmitted to all ATM terminals 4 via PVC # 2 will be described below.

ATM-AP sent to all ATM terminals 4
R request cell 42_-1As is clear from the figure,
ATM-APR request cell 36 and destination described above
The only difference is the IP address of the terminal.
Similarly, all PVC # 2 broadcast to all ATM terminals 4
Sent. ATM terminal D uses this ATM-APR request
Stocelle 42_-1, But here the ATM switch 11
Interface circuit 13 provided between the ATM terminal 4 and the ATM terminal 4
(Hereafter, referred to as IM, but when referring to individual IM, it is connected
IM-with a code of the ATM terminal being provided, for example, D
(Referred to as D etc.). As shown
Sea urchin, ATM-ARP request cell 42 _-1To IM-D
It was necessary when passing through the ATM switch 11
ATM-ARP request cell 42 with TAG part removed_-2
Is sent to the ATM terminal D as. Therefore, in this case C
Source LAN including information of VA port number "i"
The address "Ia" of the terminal A is the MAC as shown in FIG.
ATM address without being converted to address "a"
It is sent to the ATM terminal D as "Ia". In addition, ATM
-APR request cell 42_-1And ATM-ARP requests
Tocell 42_-2Corresponds to the address request cell 42 in FIG.
It

The other ATM terminal 4 (eg, ATM terminal E) receives the I-message of the received ATM-ARP request cell 42 _-2 .
Since the P address is not addressed to its own terminal, the received cell is discarded, but the ATM terminal D determines that the IP address "D" of the destination terminal of the ATM-ARP request cell 42 _-2 is its own IP.
Since it is an address, a response cell is created by storing its own ATM address in the address of the destination terminal marked with "?".

The ATM address of the ATM terminal D can take any form defined in the ATM network 1. However, in the following, the A address is stored in the upper address part of the ATM address.
Including the accommodating position information (eg port number) of the TM terminal,
Description will be made on the premise of a method of configuring the lower address section with the MAC address of the terminal. In this method, if the port number of the ATM terminal D (same as the port number of IM-D) is "h" and the MAC address is "d", the ATM address of the ATM terminal D becomes "Hd", but the conversion device Like the 12 ATM addresses, "H" is assumed to be a code including "h". The ATM terminal D uses this ATM address "H
d ”to“? "ATM-ARP reply cell by setting to the ATM address of the destination terminal (own terminal D)"
Create 43 _-1 . However, since the source and the destination are switched, the arrangement of each address is the reverse of that of the ATM-ARP request cell 42 _-2 .

The ATM terminal D sets the VCI section of the ATM-ARP reply cell 43 _-1 here. In this case, AT
The M terminal D also sends its own ATM address "Ia" to its own A
Since the TM address "Hd" is also known, the variable channel setting (VP) is set in CC (not shown) using this ATM address.
I / VCI selection) can be requested, but ATM
Since the terminal D is a receiving terminal, SVC setting request sends the ATM-ARP reply cell 43 _-1 to set the "F" to the VCI unit without a broadcast format.

In IM-D, ATM-ARP reply cell
In order to set the TAG part to 43 _-1 , the partner port number is searched from the VC table. In this search, PVC is designated as in the above case. Note that, in the principle explanatory diagrams of FIGS. 3 (Claim 3) and 4 (Claim 4), only the communication between the ATM terminal 4 and the conversion means 12 is assumed, and therefore PVC # 2
However, in this embodiment, the cells transmitted from each ATM terminal 4 are set in all other ATM terminals 4 and all conversion units 12 on the assumption that the ATM terminals 4 communicate with each other. The description will be made assuming that the existing PVC # 3 is used.

Based on the above premise, when # 3 is searched in the VC table search, the ATM-ARP reply cell 43 _-2 with "# 3" set in the TAG section is broadcast to all PVCs # 3. Sent by. Therefore, in this case AT
The M-ARP reply cell 43 _-2 is also sent to another ATM terminal 4 (for example, ATM terminal E in FIG. 17), but when PVC # 2 is designated based on the principle of FIG. 3 or 4. To the conversion unit 12 only. The above ATM-ARP reply cell 43 ₁ and ATM-ARP reply cell 43 _-2 corresponds to the address response cell 43 in FIG. 3.

CV-A is an ATM-ARP reply cell 43.
_{When -2} is received, the ATM terminal D that is the sender of this cell
The MAC address "d" and the IP address "D" are registered in the IP address table, and the MAC address "d" and the ATM address "Hd" are registered in the MAC address routing table. The latter is later M
It is used when searching the ATM address of the destination ATM terminal from the destination MAC address of the AC frame (communication message).

CV-A is an ATM-ARP reply cell 43.
_Since the ATM addresses of the source terminal and the destination terminal can be known by receiving _-2, a call setup request is made to CC (not shown in FIG. 17). Below, the sequence of call setup processing is shown in FIG. explain.

As shown in FIG. 18, CC14 is provided with "p" as a port number, and when the conversion unit 12 and the ATM terminal 4 communicate with CC14, a code predetermined to the value of VCI, For example, "5" is designated. CV-A is a figure
When the ATM-ARP reply cell 43 _-2 shown in FIG. 17 is received, the VC table is searched. In the VC table, the port number "p" of CC14 for the VCI "5" is set in advance.
Is registered correspondingly, the retrieved "p" is A
It is added as the TAG part of the TM header, and a call setup request (Call
Setup) Send to cell 14 as cell 101 (note that CC
Since the port number "p" of 14 is predetermined, V
In the case of CI = 5, "p" may be set in the TAG section without searching the VC table).

Although the detailed contents of the call setting request cell 101 are omitted, the cell is a call setting request (specifically, a request for selecting the VCI of the SVC set with the destination terminal). Code (indicated by "VCI =?" In the figure)
In addition, the ATM addresses of the source terminal and the destination terminal are included. The ATM address of the LAN terminal A of the transmission source is "I" received by the ATM-ARP reply cell 43 _-2 of FIG.
Similarly, "Hd" is used for "a" and the ATM address of the destination ATM terminal D.

When CC 14 receives this call setup request cell 101, CC 14 and the destination ATM terminal D (actually IM-
Select the VCI of the SVC set during D). In FIG. 12, the selected VCI value is indicated by "W". When the VCI value is determined, the CC 14 informs the destination ATM terminal D of the selected VCI value "W". This notification is a call setup request cell
The port number "h" of the ATM terminal D (same as IM-D) is used as the TAG portion at this time. The call setting request cell 102 is sent to the ATM terminal D as a call setting request cell 103 after the TAG portion is removed in IM-D.

When the ATM terminal D receives the call setup request cell 103, it sends back a response (Connect) cell 104 to inform that there is no problem in the SVC setup. The content of the response cell 104 is almost the same as that of the received call setup request cell 103.
As the CI value, "5" indicating that the communication is with CC14
Set. In response cell 104, the port number “p” of CC14 is added to the TAG portion in IM-D, and response cell 105
Is sent to CC14. IM-D is the response cell 10
When 4 is transmitted, the port number “i” of CV-A and the VCI value “W” of SVC which is determined to be set for CV-A are registered in the VC table in association with each other.

CC14 changes the TAG portion of this cell to "i" which is the port number of CV-A.
Send to A. The CV-A relays the response cell 106 to the LAN terminal A, but the LAN terminal A cannot directly receive the response cell 106 in the format transmitted / received in the ATM network 1. Therefore, the CV-A uses the message of the MAC sublayer protocol. Convert to. Since the conversion method seems to be easily inferred from the above description, detailed description will be omitted, but the MAC converted to the MAC sublayer protocol and sent to the LAN terminal A.
-IP addresses "A" and "D" of the source terminal and the destination terminal and MA written in the ARP reply frame 107
It is clear from the above description that the C addresses "a" and "d" can all be extracted from the ATM addresses "Ia" and "Hd" sent by the response cell 106 (for example, ATM address "Hd" and MAC. The address "d" is stored corresponding to the IP address table in FIG. 17).

At this time, CV-A stores I in the VC table.
The M-D port number "h" (extracted from the ATM address "Hd") and the SVC VCI value "W" for IM-D are registered in association with each other, and the ATM address "A" of the ATM terminal D is registered in the MAC address routing table. Hd "and VCI value" W "are registered in association with each other. When the above processing is performed, the variable channel SVC23 having the VCI value "W" is set between the CV-A and the ATM terminal D (via IM-D), and the communication between the LAN terminal A and the ATM terminal D is started. .
The transmission / reception sequence of communication messages will be described below with reference to FIG.

The communication message (MAC frame 111 in FIG. 19) transmitted by the LAN terminal A is based on the MAC sublayer protocol, and the MAC header includes the MAC address "d" of the destination ATM terminal D and the MAC address of its own terminal. "A"
Is set, and the IP addresses “D” and “A” of the transmission destination and the transmission source are included in the message, and a communication message is inserted in the blank portion.

CV-A is M transmitted from LAN terminal A
To make the AC frame 111 into a cell, the MAC header is set to A
It is replaced with the TM header. First, the MAC address routing table is used to search for the ATM address “Hd” of the destination terminal from the MAC address “d” of the destination ATM terminal D (registered in FIG. 17), and the AT is used using the same table.
The VCI value “W” to the M address “Hd” is searched (registered in FIG. 12) and set in the VCI section, and then the VC table is searched using that “W”, and the VCI value “W” is found. The port number “h” of the set ATM terminal D of the partner terminal is obtained (registered in FIG. 12) and set in the TAG section. The cell 112 created by this is the SV determined by the VCI value "W".
After being sent to the IM-D having the port number "h" via C23, the TAG part is removed from the IM-D and the cell 113 is sent to the ATM terminal D.

The message from the ATM terminal D is the cell in the figure.
As shown in 114, it is sent from the beginning in the form of cells. I
When MD receives this, the VCI set in the VCI section
From the value "W", the other party's port number "i" is searched from the VC table (registered in FIG. 18), and the TAG of cell 115
Set to department and send. In CV-A, the received cell 115
IP addresses “A” and “D” set to I
The MAC address is searched using the P address table, the obtained “a” and “d” are set in the MAC header to create the MAC frame 116, and the LA frame is transmitted via the LAN-A.
Send to N terminal A. The cells 112 to 11 in the above
Reference numeral 5 corresponds to the message cell (cell) 55 in FIG.

Next, an embodiment of claim 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Contrary to claim 3, claim 4 is an arbitrary L terminal from an arbitrary ATM terminal 4 in the ATM network 1.
This is a connection method in the case of connecting to and communicating with an arbitrary LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the AN 2, but hereinafter, the source ATM terminal 4 is the ATM terminal C, and the interface circuit to which the ATM terminal C is connected. 13 for IM-C and L for destination
AN terminal 3 and LAN 2 are LAN terminals B and L, respectively.
CV the converter 12 connected to AN-B and LAN-B
-B will be described.

[0147] ATM terminal C to create a ATM-ARP request cell 51 _-1 querying the first ATM address of the destination LAN terminal B when communicating with LAN terminal B.
The VCI value of this cell is set to "F" as described above, and the ATM address "Gc" and IP address "C" shown in FIG. 20 are set as the source address. In this case, the destination IP address is "B", but the ATM address is unknown, so it is not set.
It is illustrated by "?".

The IM-C which has received the ATM-ARP request cell 51 _-1 searches the VP table for adding the TAG part, but since the VCI value is "F", the PVC number is searched. As described above, PVC # 3 is used for all transmissions from the ATM terminal 4 (including the case of returning a response).
Since "# 3" is set in the TAG section in this example, all the conversion sections 12 and all the other ATM terminals 4 (for example, ATM terminal E in FIG.
ARP request cell _51-2 is transmitted in broadcast format,
Hereinafter, only the operation of the conversion unit CV-B on the receiving side will be described.

Upon receiving the ATM-ARP request cell 51 _-2 , the CV-B receives the MAC address "c" of the ATM terminal C from the lower address part of "Gc" of the source ATM address.
To extract "G" in the ATM-ARP request cell _51-2 .
c "is replaced with" c ", and the IP address" C "and the MAC address" c "of the transmission source LAN terminal C are registered in the IP address table in association with each other, and the MAC address" c "is registered in the MAC address routing table. AT
The M address "Gc" is registered correspondingly. Then CV-
B sets "BC" indicating the broadcast format in the destination MAC address part of the MAC header from "F" of the received VCI part, and sets "c" in the MAC address part of the source terminal of the MAC header. A MAC-ARP request frame 52 is created and transmitted to LAN-B in a connectionless format.

Upon receiving the message, the LAN terminal B confirms that the message is addressed to itself by the IP address "B" and sets its own MAC address "b" to set the MAC address.
MAC-ARP reply frame by sublayer protocol
53 is created, and the MAC address "c" of ATM terminal C is set to M
Set it as the destination of the AC header and send it back.

The CV-B assembles the received MAC-ARP reply frame 53 into cells. First, in order to create an ATM header, the VCI value of the destination MAC address "c" is searched using the MAC address routing table.
At this point, since SVC is not set and the VCI value cannot be obtained, the VC table is searched by the VCI value "F" and "# 1" (PVC # is used instead of the partner port number).
1) and "# 2" (PVC # 2) are obtained. CV-B sets these "# 1" and "# 2" in the TAG part of the cell, and
Set "F" to the section. Among these, ATM-transmitted via PVC # 1 to all converters 12 including LAN-F in the figure.
Since ARP reply cell is the same as that described in FIG. 16 and omitted in FIG. 20, below, PVC # only ATM-ARP reply cells 54 _-1 to be sent onto the 2 will be described.

CV-B uses the MAC address "b" of LAN terminal B in MAC-ARP reply frame 53 and its own port number "j" (or ATM address "J *") to send the ATM address of LAN terminal B. Create "Jb" and use the MAC address routing table for ATM
From the MAC address "c" of the terminal C to the ATM address "G"
c ”is searched (registered in advance) and the MAC addresses“ b ”and“ c ”in the MAC-ARP reply frame 53 are AT
The M addresses are replaced with "Jb" and "Gc".

The ATM-ARP reply cell 54 _{-1 which} has been made into cells as described above is transmitted to all the ATM terminals 4 in a broadcast format by the PVC # 2. At that time, the CV-B displays the M of the transmission source (LAN terminal B in this case) in the IP address table.
The AC address “b” and the IP address “B” are registered in correspondence with each other. This processing is performed as a part of the function of claim 7, and the details will be described later.

The ATM-ARP reply cell 54 _-1 is I
In M-C TAG is removed, it is sent to the ATM terminal C as ATM-ARP reply cell 54 _2. This ATM
-ARP reply cell 54 ₁ and ATM-ARP reply cell 54 _-2 corresponds to ATM-ARP reply cell 54 in FIG. 4.

The ATM terminal C which has received the ATM-ARP reply cell 54 _-2 starts a call setting request.
Will be described. ATM terminal C call setup request shown in FIG. 21 receives the ATM-ARP reply frame 54 _-2 (Ca
ll Setup) Cell 121 is sent to CC14. The VCI portion of the ATM header of the call setup request cell 121 is "5" defined for CC14, and a code (VCI =?) Indicating that this cell is a call setup request is provided inside the cell.
, And the ATM address “J” of the transmission source and the transmission destination.
b "and" Gc "are set. The IM-C attaches a TAG portion to this, but the value is the port number" p "of CC14 as in the CV-A of Fig. 12. The TAG portion" p "is When receiving the attached call setup request cell 122, the CC 14 sets VCI (the set VCI is represented by "X"), and the CV is set in the TAG section.
-Call setup request cell 123 with port number "j" of B set
To CV-B.

When the CV-B receives the call setting request cell 123, the ATM address "Gc" and V of the source ATM terminal C are transmitted.
After registering in the MAC address routing table in association with the CI value "X", a response (Connect) cell to the call setup request is created. At this time, CV-B is V
In the C table, the port number "g" of the ATM terminal C (AT
The MCI address "Gc" is extracted) and the VCI value "X" are registered in association with each other. Response cell 124 is call setup request cell 12
The destination of 3 is replaced with the port number "p" of CC14, and when CC14 receives this, it performs the necessary processing, and then the response cell 125 whose destination is changed to the port number "g" of IM-C is displayed. Create and send to IM-C.

The IM-C sends a response cell 126, which is obtained by removing the TAG portion from the response cell 125, to the ATM terminal C. At this time, the port number "j" (ATM of the CV-B which is the transmission source of the response cell 125). VC extracted from address "Jb")
The I value "X" is associated and registered in the VC table.

From the above, V between the ATM terminal C and CV-B
SVC 25 with CI value "X" is set, and ATM terminal C
Communication is started between the LAN terminal B and the LAN terminal B, and the transmission / reception sequence of a communication message will be described with reference to FIG. ATM
The message sent from terminal C is in cell format,
Like the cell 131 in FIG. 22, the VCI is set to "X", and the IP addresses "B" and "C" of the destination LAN terminal B and the source ATM terminal C are included. I received this
The MC searches the VC table for the port number of the connection destination of the VCI value "X", and obtains the port number "j" (Fig. 21).
Already registered), and the cell in which this "j" is set in the TAG part
132 is created and sent out on the SVC 25.

Upon receiving the cell 132, the CV-B uses the IP address table to determine the IP addresses "B" and "C".
When the “b” and “c” are obtained by searching the MAC address of the MAC address (registered in FIG. 20), the MAC frame 133 of the MAC sublayer protocol in which these are set in the MAC header is created, and the connection is made to LAN-B. Send in format. Since "B" is designated as the IP address of the destination terminal in this MAC frame 133, the LAN terminal B identifies this MAC frame 133 as a message addressed to itself.

When transmitting a message from the LAN terminal B side, the MAC frame 134 created by the MAC sublayer protocol is transmitted. CV that received the MAC frame 134
-B uses the MAC address routing table to send the destination MAC address "c" to the ATM address "G".
After searching "c" (registered in Fig. 14) and then searching for VCI value "X" from "Gc" (registered in Fig. 21), the port number of the destination is specified by the VC table using the searched "X". When "g" is searched, "X" and "g" are set in the VCI section and the TAG section, respectively, to create cell 135, and SV
Send on C25. The IM-C which received this sends out the cell 136 excluding the TAG part to the ATM terminal C. In this way, the ATM terminal C and the LAN terminal B send and receive messages. The cells 131, 132 and 135, 13 in the above
6 corresponds to the message cell (cell) 63 in FIG.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. A fifth aspect of the present invention is a connection method for communication between arbitrary ATM terminals 4 in the ATM network 1. When communication is performed between the ATM terminals 4, basically no protocol conversion is required, but in the present invention, since communication is also performed between the ATM terminal 4 and the LAN terminal 3, the ATM terminal 4 transmits the data. In this case, or when the ATM terminal 4 receives a message, it is necessary for either the ATM terminal 4 or the LAN terminal 3 to communicate, so that the ATM network 1 in which only the ATM terminal 4 exists is used. There are different restrictions. Below, the ATM of the source and destination
Each of the terminals 4 is an ATM terminal C and an ATM terminal D, and the interface circuits 13 connected to each are an IM.
-C and IM-D.

A sent first by the ATM terminal C of the transmission source
TM-ARP request cell 61 _-1 destination terminal ATM-ARP request cell 51 _-1 described in FIG. 20 I
The P address is simply replaced with "D" of the ATM terminal D from "B" of the LAN terminal B. This ATM-
IM-C which has received the ARP request cell 61 _-1 searches the VC table, "# 3" obtain (PVC # 3). I
M-C sets the "# 3" in the TAG section, create a ATM-ARP request cell 61 _-2 is set to the VCI portion "F".

As described above, PVC # 3 is AT
AT is set for all ATM terminals 4 including M terminal D and also for all converters 12, so AT
M-ARP request cell 61 _-2 is transmitted in a broadcast format for both. ATM-ARP request cell 61 of FIG.
_-2 is a cell transmitted to all other ATM terminals 4, ATM-A
Although the RP request cell 63 is a cell transmitted to all the conversion units 12, both are of the same format as is clear from the figure. Although CV-F in the figure illustrates one of the other conversion units 12, the operation of the CV-F will be described first.

[0164] ATM-ARP request cell 63 ATM-ARP request cell 51 _-2 Figure 20 CV-F receives
And the destination IP address is different. Therefore, the conversion process to the MAC sublayer protocol performed by CV-F is the same as the process performed by CV-B in FIG. 14, and the created MAC-ARP request frame 64 is the destination IP.
It is the same as the MAC-ARP request frame 52 of FIG. 20 except that the address is different. This MAC-ARP request frame 64 is for all LAs in the connected LAN-F.
Although it is sent in a connectionless format to the N terminal 3 (not shown), since the destination IP addresses do not match, each LAN
It is discarded at the terminal 3.

On the other hand, the A sent to the ATM terminal 4
TM-ARP request cell 61 _-2 TAG portion is received in the IM-D is removed, ATM-ARP request cell 61
_-3 is sent to the ATM terminal D. The ATM terminal D creates and returns the ATM-ARP reply cell 62 _{-1 in} which the inquired ATM address "Hd" is written. When IM-D receives this, it transmits V of the channel to be transmitted.
Search for CI, but in this case searches the VC table for VCI portion of the header of the ATM-ARP reply cell 62 _-1 is "F", "# 3" obtain (PVC # 3). I
MD is the A with the TAG part set to "# 3" added.
When TM-ARP reply cell 62 _-2 is created, all P
It is transmitted in a broadcast format to VC # 3.

This ATM-ARP reply cell 62 _-2 is also transmitted to all the conversion units 12, but the operation in the conversion unit 12 is that the CV-received the ATM-ARP request cell 63.
Since the operation is similar to that of F, illustration and description thereof will be omitted.
On the other hand, each interface circuit (IM) having received the ATM-ARP reply cell 62 _-2 sends it to each connected ATM terminal 4 except for the TAG section. ATM in above
-ARP request cell 61 _-1 to 61 _-3 corresponds to an address request cell 61 of FIG. 5, ATM-ARP reply cells 62 _-1 ~
_62-3 corresponds to the address response cell 62 in FIG.

ATM terminal C sends A sent from IM-C.
When the TM-ARP reply cell _62-3 is received, a call setup request is sent, which will be described below with reference to FIG. The ATM terminal C transmits a call setup request (Call Setup) cell 141 shown in FIG. 24, and its VCI section is "5" which means that it is addressed to CC14. In the IM-C, as in FIG. 21, the port number "p" is added to the TAG portion and the call setting request cell 142 is sent to the CC 14. CC14 is VCI
Is set (the set VCI is represented by "Y"), the call setting request cell 143 in which the destination port number is set to "h" is sent to the IM-D. In the IM-D, the ATM port D is used as the call setting request cell 144 except for the destination port number "h".
Send to.

The ATM terminal D which receives this responds (Conn
ect) When the cell 145 is created and sent, the VCI in IM-D
Value "Y" and the destination IM-C port number "g"
Are registered in the VC table in correspondence with each other and then sent to CC14. Port number “g” of IM-C in CC14
The response cell 147 which has been rewritten into the destination cell number "g" is removed by the IM-C, and the ATM terminal C is used as the response cell 148.
Will be returned to. This enables ATM terminal C (IM-C)
Between the ATM terminal D (IM-D) and the ATM terminal D (IM-D), an SVC 27 having "Y" as VCI is set.

FIG. 25 is a diagram for explaining the sequence of message transmission / reception between the ATM terminal C and the ATM terminal D. The cell 151 sent from the source ATM terminal C to the IM-C and the destination from the IM-C to the destination. Cell 152 sent to IM-D
Only the setting values differ from those explained in 22,
Also, the operations performed in IM-D and AT from IM-D
The cell 153 sent to the M terminal D is different from the one described in FIG. 19 only in the setting value, and the description thereof will be omitted.
Also, a cell transmitted from the ATM terminal D to the ATM terminal C
Since 154 to 156 only exchange the setting values with the cells 151 to 153 transmitted from the ATM terminal D to the ATM terminal C, description thereof will be omitted. The cells 152 to 155 described above correspond to the message cell (cell) 63 in FIG.

As described above, the AT shown in FIGS.
The connection method between the M terminals 4 is not particularly different from the connection method between the ATM terminal 4 and the LAN terminal 3. That is,
Using an ATM address 4 which uses an ATM address and sends and receives a cell format message, and a MAC address,
Existing LAN2 that cannot send and receive messages in cell format
Even if the LAN terminals 3 are mixed, the ATM terminal 4 does not need to change the connection method depending on the connection partner.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 16 to 25, in the present invention, a plurality of existing LANs 2 exist and each LA is
When N2 includes an existing LAN terminal using a network layer protocol different from the network layer protocol standardized in the ATM network 1, LA
Even if the N2 is connected by relaying the ATM network 1, the communication between the LAN terminals 3, between the LAN terminals 3 and the ATM terminals 4, and between the ATM terminals 4 can be performed without any problem by the protocol conversion in the conversion unit 12. it can. Also, ATM terminal 4
And communication between ATM terminals and LA of existing LAN
There is no need to specifically change the connection method when communicating with the N terminal. Further, since it is not necessary to centrally manage various addresses in order to convert the address of each terminal at the time of connection, there is no burden on the network administrator.

Next, examples of claims 6 to 10 will be described. Of these, the embodiments of claims 6 to 8 are partially explained in the above description, but the principles of FIGS. 16 to 25 and FIGS. 6 to 10 used so far are as follows. A description will be given for each claim together with an explanatory diagram.

First, the embodiment of claim 6 will be described with reference to FIG. CV-B in FIG. 16 is more MAC-AR than CV-A.
When the P request cell 32 is received, the MAC address "a" of the LAN terminal A and the upper address part "I" of the ATM address of the CV-A are registered in the MAC address routing table in association with each other. As described above, “I” is information that can identify the port number “i” of CV-A,
This corresponds to the identification information of the transmission source conversion unit 12 in FIG. This communication is assumed to have progressed and ended in this state.

Next, from the LAN terminal (for example, LAN terminal B) connected to the CV-B which has made this registration, the LAN
Consider a case where a MAC-ARP request frame is sent to the terminal A. In this case, CV-B performs the same processing as CV-A in FIG.
If the previous information is not registered in the AC address routing table, the CV-B sends a MAC-ARP request cell in a broadcast format to all other conversion units 12 and all ATM terminals 4 via PVC # 1 and PVC # 2. Will be sent.

However, when claim 6 is applied, CV
-B searches whether the MAC address "a" of the destination LAN terminal A at this time is registered in the MAC address routing table. If the registration is performed as described above, the A of the CV-A stored in association with “a” is stored.
Since the upper address part "I" of the TM address is searched, the CV-B identifies the port number "i" of the destination CV-A from "I".

On the other hand, each conversion unit 12 associates the identification information (for example, port number) of all the conversion units 12 with the ATM address by the ATM.
Since it is stored in the address table, the CV-B searches the ATM address table using the port number "i", and searches the ATM address "I *" of the CV-A.
Since the CV-B knows its own ATM address "J *", when the ATM address "I *" of the CV-A is obtained, it means that the source and destination ATM addresses can be confirmed. Therefore, a call setup request is made to the CC using this ATM address.

CC sends VPI / V in response to this call setup request.
When CI is set, CV-B and C
An SVC is set between VA and CV-B transmits a MAC-ARP request frame using this SVC.
In this case, since the transmission destination of the MAC-ARP request frame is limited to CV-A only, the traffic of the virtual channel and the invalid operation of each device on the receiving side are more effective than the case where the MAC-ARP request frame is transmitted to a plurality of fixed channels in the broadcast format. Significantly reduced.
In this method, if the MAC address "a" of the destination LAN terminal A is not registered in the MAC address routing table, the PVC-based broadcast format transmission described above is performed, but with the increase in the number of communications. As the number of registered contents increases, the effect will gradually increase.

In the above, when "a" and the CV-A ATM address "I *" are stored in the MAC address routing table in correspondence with each other, the MAC-ARP request frame is sent to the LAN terminal A. It is also possible to directly obtain the ATM address "I *" of the CV-A by searching only the MAC address routing table.

Next, an embodiment of claim 7 will be described. In claim 7, as shown in FIG. 7, the ATM address of the LAN terminal 3 has a hierarchical structure including an upper address part and a lower address part. Although the ATM address is not directly given to the LAN terminal 3, the ATM address of the LAN terminal may be required due to the protocol conversion in the connection process as described above. For example, in FIG. 17, CV-A
Is a MAC-ARP request frame from LAN terminal A
The ATM address of the transmission source LAN terminal A is required when receiving 41, converting it to cells, and transmitting it to the ATM terminal D. However, by adopting the configuration of FIG. 7, the MAC address "a" to the ATM address " Ia ″ can be easily created.

As shown in the response (Connect) cell 106 in FIG. 18, when the ATM address "Ia" is received from the ATM terminal D as the address for the LAN terminal A, the CV-A simply sends it to the MAC address. Convert to "a" to create MAC-ARP reply frame 107,
It can be sent to LAN-A. As described above, by applying the sixth aspect, the address conversion when connecting the LAN terminal 3 and the ATM terminal 4 becomes extremely easy.

Next, an embodiment of claim 8 will be described. Claim 8 is an LA housed in a LAN connected to the conversion unit 12.
This is a connection method in which when a message for a LAN terminal other than the N terminal is received, the message is not relayed to the LAN. So far, in the embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 16 to 25, messages and cells are transmitted in a broadcast format to a plurality of fixed channels. Therefore, even if it is clear that the conversion unit 12 is not accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the conversion unit 12, the conversion unit 12 sends the received message or the like to the LAN 2 in a connectionless format. Since communication between accommodated terminals is also performed within the LAN 2, it is desirable not to send such invalid messages.

In claim 8, as shown in FIG.
If the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the LAN transmits even once, the MAC address is stored in the conversion unit 12, and when the cell is transmitted from the ATM network 1 side, this cell is transmitted. The receiving conversion unit 12 compares the MAC address of the destination terminal in the cell with the previously stored MAC address, and if there is no match, does not perform protocol conversion of the received cell and sends it to the LAN 2. .

The embodiment of claim 8 will be described below with reference to FIG. In FIG. 16, when the LAN terminal A transmits the MAC-ARP request frame 31, the CV-A stores the MAC address “a” and the IP address “I” of the LAN terminal A in the IP address table shown in FIG. The registration is made in association with each other, but the registration in the IP address table corresponds to the recording of the accommodated LAN terminal MAC address in FIG. After that, when a cell for the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the LAN 2 other than the LAN-A shown in FIG. 16 is sent from another conversion unit 12 in a broadcast format, the CV-A is the destination terminal set in the cell. It is confirmed whether or not the MAC address "a" is recorded in the IP address table, and if it is not recorded, the message is not relayed to LAN-A.

When this method is applied, the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the conversion unit 12 performs trial communication before actual communication and registers it in the IP address table. . The IP address table may store the MAC address of a terminal that is not accommodated in the own conversion unit 12 as shown in FIG. 17, but when applying claim 8, the IP address table is stored in the own conversion unit 12. It is configured so that the MAC address of the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in can be identified.

Next, an embodiment of claim 9 will be described. LAN
Is basically a connectionless communication system, so that FIG.
As shown in, a message for communication between terminals in the LAN 2 is simultaneously sent to the conversion unit 12. Figure 16-Figure
In the configuration of 25, the conversion unit 12 receives the received message on the LAN.
PVC # 1 or PVC #
It is transmitted in a broadcast format to all the conversion units 12 and all the ATM terminals 4 via 2. Claim 9 is for reducing such invalid traffic, and as shown in FIG.
When one of the AN terminals 3 (referred to as LAN terminal A) sends a message, the message is sent from the source LAN
The network address of the terminal A (for example, IP address “A”) is extracted and recorded. 16 CV-
A receives the MAC-ARP request frame 31 and receives the MAC address “a” of the source LAN terminal A and the IP
Although the address “A” is associated and registered in the IP address table, the above-mentioned recording can utilize the registration in this IP address table. It should be noted that it is not possible to use the network address instead of the MAC address.
This is because the network address is specified when the AN terminal 3 communicates.

After that, another LAN terminal 3 (LAN terminal K
When a message is sent to the LAN terminal A by designating the IP address “A”, the message is L
It is sent to all the LAN terminals 3 in the AN 2 in a connectionless format and also sent to the conversion device 12. Converter
Reference numeral 12 indicates, for example, whether or not the IP address "A" of the destination terminal is recorded in the IP address table, and if it is recorded, the LAN having the IP address "A"
Since the terminal 3 is a terminal accommodated in the LAN 2 connected to the own conversion unit 12, it discards the received message and does not send it to the ATM network side. In the case of applying claim 8, as in claim 7, for example, the IP address table is configured so that the IP address of the LAN terminal 3 accommodated in the converting unit 12 can be identified.

Next, an embodiment of claim 10 will be described. Figure 16 ~
Although not clear in FIG. 25, a plurality of PVC # 1 and PVC # 2 are set from each conversion unit 12 to all conversion units 12 of the terminal or all ATM terminals 4. The conversion unit 12 has one UNI (User-Network Interface) for the ATM switch 11, but with the above configuration, many VPI / VCIs for fixed channels are set for one UNI. Become. Claim 10 provides only one VPI / VCI for a fixed channel to one UNI.

As its principle is illustrated in FIG.
Each conversion unit 12 sets a plurality of PVC # 1 in the ATM switch 11 when using a fixed channel, for example, PVC # 1. When applying claim 9, for example,
When the CV-A of 16 sends the MAC-ARP request frame 31 to the PVC, the port number of the destination conversion unit 12 is not specified in the TAG part of the cell sent from the CV-A without specifying "# 1". Is specified. Since each conversion unit 12 stores the correspondence between the port numbers of all the conversion devices 12 and the ATM addresses in the ATM address table, for example, if the port numbers of all the conversion units 12 are sequentially set in the TAG unit, all the conversion units 12 will be stored. In response, the MAC-ARP request frame 31 can be sent. This allows many VPI / VCIs to be PVC #
The VPI / VCI of the fixed channel (PVC # 1) for each conversion unit 12 can be easily managed.

Next, an embodiment of the conversion device 12X according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 27 shows an embodiment of the configuration of the conversion device 12X shown in the basic configuration diagrams of FIGS. 11 to 15. Figure
27 converter 12X of, LAN interface board 12 _-10 which integrates the functions for LAN2 side, ATM interface board which integrates the functions for ATM switch side
12 _-20 and which consists of three boards network management board 12 _-30 for performing overall management such channels in the ATM network 1, each of these boards are connected by a system bus 12 _{-4 0.}

LAN interface board 12_-TenIs CP
U12_-11, ROM12_-12, MEM12 _-13Besides, LAN
Driver 12 connected to 2 to send and receive information_-14, Cis
Tembus 12_-40Connected to the ATM interface board
Do 12_-20And network management board 12_-30Between
Driver sending and receiving information 12_-15Made of. ROM12
_-12Is the LAN information transmitting / receiving means 12 shown in FIGS.
a, MAC address analysis means 12e, message transmission control
The procedure executed by means 12m is described as firmware.
Remember, CPU12_-11Is this ROM12_-12Remembered by
Performs processing according to the firmware, and if necessary, MEM
12_-13Store information in.

The MEM 12 _-13 has a function of storing LAN-related information necessary for processing of the CPU 12 _-11 and a function of temporarily storing information generated in the process, and the driver 12 _-14.
13 and 14 as well as having a buffer memory function for temporarily storing a message transmitted / received to / from LAN 2 via
It has the function of accommodating LAN terminal storage unit 12 _-10 depicted in, MAC of accommodating LAN terminal under the control of the CPU 12 _-10
Remember the address.

ATM interface board 12_-20Is CP
U12_{-twenty one}, ROM12_{-twenty two}, MEM12 _{-twenty three}Besides, ATM
A driver 12 that sends and receives information to and from the switch 11._{-twenty four},
System bus 12_-40Connected to the LAN interface
Board 12_-TenAnd network management board 12_-30Between
Driver to send and receive information by 12_{-twenty five}Consists of. ROM12
_{-twenty two}Is the ATM information transmitting / receiving means 12 shown in FIGS.
b, protocol conversion means 12d, ATM address analysis means
12f, connection setting processing means 12g, connection channel size
Setting means 12i, message relay control means 12k, fixed channel
The processing procedure executed by the
And memorize, CPU12_{-twenty one}Is ROM12_{-twenty two}Remembered by
Performs processing according to the firmware, and if necessary, ME
M12_{-twenty three}Store information in.

[0193] MEM 12 _-23 except that constitute the converter address storage unit 12c illustrated in FIGS. 11 to 15, CPU 12
_-21 stores ATM related information necessary for processing, temporarily stores information generated in the process, buffer memory function for temporarily storing messages transmitted to and received from the ATM network 1 through the driver _12-24 . Furthermore, MEM12
_-23 is a source address storage means 12h and a connection channel determination means 12i shown in FIG. 12, and a fixed channel selection means 12 _- n shown in FIG. V of all converters 12X required by
It stores CI information and the like.

The network management board _12-30 is a CPU
12 _-31, a ROM 12 _-32, MEM 12 _{-3 3,} a system bus
Connected to 12 _-40 LAN interface board 12 _-10
And an ATM interface board _12-20, and a driver _12-34 for exchanging information with the ATM interface board _12-20 . ROM12 _-32
Is a process necessary to manage the entire ATM network, for example,
The procedure for managing the usage status of the variable channel (SVC) when setting the connection is stored as firmware, and the CPU _12-41 processes according to the firmware stored in the ROM _12-42 to provide the information necessary for management. MEM12 _-43 to be stored in.

LAN interface board 12 of FIG._-Ten
And ATM interface board 12 _-20In the two-dot chain line
Surrounded part, that is, CPU, ROM, MEM
The part of FIG.
Processing performed as a recipient's converter and claims 6 to 10
Is the part that executes the processing specified by
The work overlaps with the content already explained by FIGS. 16 to 27.
Therefore, the description is omitted.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to FIGS. 16 to 27 (partly using the principle diagrams of FIGS. 6 to 10), the drawings and description used above are the embodiments of the present invention. It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited only to the contents described above, since only a part of the above is described. For example, it goes without saying that the effect of the present invention does not change even if the names used in the above description, for example, the conversion unit and the conversion device have other names. Further, although the conversion unit 12 / conversion device 12X is provided in the ATM network 1 in the above-mentioned embodiment, the installation place of the conversion unit 12 / conversion device 12X is not limited to the ATM network 1, and the LAN 2 and the ATM are provided. LA in the middle of the network 1 or by using appropriate connecting means together
Even if it is installed in N2, the effect of the present invention does not change.

Further, various methods are conceivable in addition to the method described in FIG. 26 and the above as the method of constructing and retrieving tables, but the present invention eliminates the modification of the method of constructing tables and retrieval method. Not something to do.

As for the converter 12X, in FIG. 27, one LAN interface board _12-10 has one LA.
While connecting the N2, also accommodates a plurality of LAN2 to one LAN interface board 12 _-10 does not change the effect of the present invention it is clear. Furthermore, the converter 12X
27 is not limited to the method of configuring the LAN interface board 12 _-10 , the ATM interface board 12 _-20, and the network management board 12 _-30 as shown in FIG. Needless to say, the effect of the present invention does not change.

[0199]

As described above, according to the present invention,
An ATM network for performing communication by a unified network layer protocol is installed in an existing LAN, and a LAN terminal accommodated in the LAN relays the ATM network to another LAN.
When communicating with a LAN terminal accommodated in, the connection is performed using the MAC sublayer protocol of the data link layer protocol, so the network layer protocol used by the existing LAN terminal for communication is standardized within the ATM network. Even if it is not a network layer protocol, communication can be easily performed by relaying the ATM network. At that time, LAN and AT
The conversion unit / conversion device provided between the M networks and the interface circuit of the ATM terminal are connected to the network layer address (for example,
Efficient conversion of IP address), MAC address and ATM address. In particular, unlike the network address, the MAC address is not unified for each LAN segment or sub-network unit. Therefore, if address conversion is performed using a table or the like, great effort is required to create and maintain the table. Besides, there is a high possibility that a connection failure will occur due to a mistake in registration or update, but in the present invention, the method of notifying all MAC addresses by the terminal itself to which the MAC address has been assigned is adopted. It does not require much labor for management.

Further, in the present invention, connection between LAN terminals, connection from LAN terminal to ATM terminal, ATM
Connections from terminals to LAN terminals and between ATM terminals are performed in a unified manner, and there is no need to use connection methods that differ greatly depending on the combination of the source terminal and the destination terminal, so communication in various combinations is efficient. You can do it.

Further, according to the present invention, even if a MAC address, which makes it difficult to know the accommodation position in advance, is used, a variable channel can be set when performing communication. Therefore, compared with the case where communication is performed using a fixed channel. In addition to improving channel usage efficiency, it is possible to set an appropriate band in advance according to the type of terminal, so when using a fixed channel that has to be set to an unnecessarily wide band. ATM in comparison
It is possible to improve the line use efficiency in the network.

Further, in the present invention, the inquiry of the address is carried out by the broadcast format, but since the method of selecting the destination conversion unit / conversion device and transmitting the cell can be adopted, the efficiency of the use of the fixed channel is realized. It is possible (claims 6 and 12). In addition, it is possible to further facilitate address conversion by making the ATM address into a hierarchical structure (claim 7). In addition, the conversion unit / conversion device can prevent the cell from being transmitted to the LAN when the received cell is not addressed to the terminal in the LAN connected to the conversion unit / conversion device, so that it is unnecessary for the LAN. Traffic can be reduced (claims 8 and 13).

Further, L connected to each conversion unit / conversion device
AT messages sent and received between LAN terminals in AN
Since it is possible not to send to the M network side, AT
The dead traffic to the M network can be reduced (claims 9 and 14). Further, since each conversion unit / conversion device does not have a large number of fixed channel VPIs and VCIs in order to perform transmission to fixed channels in a broadcast format, management of fixed channel VPIs and VCIs is possible. Is facilitated (claims 10 and 15).

As described above, the present invention greatly contributes to the efficiency of connection between the ATM network and the LAN in the connectionless type LAN, especially in the communication network in which the existing LAN and the connection type ATM network exist.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the principle of the connection method according to the present invention (1)

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a connection method principle according to the present invention (2)

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a connection method principle according to the present invention (3)

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the principle of the connection method according to the present invention (4)

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a connection method principle according to the present invention (5)

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the principle of the connection method according to the present invention (6)

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a connection method principle according to the present invention (7)

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a connection method principle according to the present invention (8)

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a connection method principle according to the present invention (9)

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a connection method principle according to the present invention (10).

FIG. 11 is a basic configuration diagram (1) of a conversion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a basic configuration diagram (2) of the conversion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a basic configuration diagram (3) of the conversion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a basic configuration diagram (4) of the conversion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a basic configuration diagram (5) of a conversion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a communication sequence diagram (LAN) according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Communication between terminals)

FIG. 17 is a communication sequence diagram of an embodiment of the present invention (LAN
Communication from terminal to ATM terminal 1/3)

FIG. 18 is a communication sequence diagram (LAN according to an embodiment of the present invention).
Communication from terminal to ATM terminal 2/3)

FIG. 19 is a communication sequence diagram (LAN according to an embodiment of the present invention).
Communication from terminal to ATM terminal 3/3)

FIG. 20 is a communication sequence diagram (ATM according to an embodiment of the present invention)
Communication from terminal to LAN terminal 1/3)

FIG. 21 is a communication sequence diagram (ATM according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Communication from terminal to LAN terminal 2/3)

FIG. 22 is a communication sequence diagram (ATM according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Communication from terminal to LAN terminal 3/3)

FIG. 23 is a communication sequence diagram (ATM according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Communication between terminals 1/3)

FIG. 24 is a communication sequence diagram (ATM according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Communication between terminals 2/3)

FIG. 25 is a communication sequence diagram (ATM according to an embodiment of the present invention)
Communication between terminals 3/3)

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram of storage information of tables according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a conversion device according to the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a conventional ATM network configuration diagram.

FIG. 29 is a LAN configuration diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ATM network 2 LAN 3 LAN terminal 4 ATM terminal 11 ATM switch 12 conversion means 12X conversion device 12a LAN information transmission / reception means 12b ATM information transmission / reception means 12c conversion device address storage means 12d protocol conversion means 12e MAC address analysis means 12f ATM address analysis means 12g Connection setting processing means 12h Source address storage means 12i Connection channel determination means 12j Accommodating LAN terminal storage means 12k Message relay control means 12m Message transmission control means 12n Fixed channel selection means 13 Interface circuits 21, 23, 26 Fixed channel (PVC) 22, 24, 25 Variable channels (SVC) 31-36, 41-44, 51-55, 61-63 LAN terminals and conversion means, ATM terminals and conversion means, conversion means, AT
Messages, frames, cells sent and received between M terminals 40 LAN terminal ATM address

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location H04Q 3/00

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of ATMs which communicate with each other by a unified network layer protocol of a plurality of LANs (2) in which a plurality of types of network layer protocols are used for communication between LAN terminals (3) that each accommodates. In the communication network connected to the ATM network (1) accommodating the terminal (4), the LA
A method for connecting a LAN when N terminals (3) relay each other through the ATM network (1) to perform communication, wherein each of the plurality of LANs (2) and an A in the ATM network (1)
A conversion means (12) for performing address analysis and protocol conversion is provided between the TM switches (11), and each conversion means (12) has an ATM network.
(1) A virtual fixed channel (21) is provided between each conversion means (12) by adding identification information for identifying the ATM address in
And the conversion means (12) for accommodating the source LAN terminal (3) specifies the network address of the destination LAN terminal (3) by the source LAN terminal (3). ) MAC that inquires the MAC address in the data link layer
When a message of the sublayer protocol is transmitted, the message is converted into cells and transmitted to the plurality of fixed channels (21) in a broadcast format, and the conversion means (12) for accommodating the destination LAN terminal (3) When the destination LAN terminal (3) sends a message of the MAC sublayer protocol that notifies the MAC address of its own terminal,
The message is attached with identification information of its own conversion means (12) to form a cell, which is then transmitted to the plurality of fixed channels (21) in a broadcast format, and the transmission source conversion means (12) which received the message performs both conversions. The connection setting processing is performed using the identification information of the means, and thereafter, the source and destination conversion means (12) converts the message transmitted from the source and destination LAN terminals (3) by the MAC sublayer protocol into cells. A method of connecting a LAN including an ATM network, characterized in that the relay is performed transparently. 2. The identification information and ATM are provided in each of the conversion means (12).
An ATM address is given as an address in the network (1) and the correspondence between the identification information of all the conversion means (12) and the ATM address is stored in each conversion means (12) and the virtual conversion is performed between the conversion means (12). A plurality of first fixed channels (21) are set, and an arbitrary LAN terminal (3) accommodated in an arbitrary LAN (2) is connected to a LAN terminal (3) accommodated in another LAN (2). Sends an address request message (31) using the MAC sublayer protocol to inquire the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal (3) by specifying the network address in the network layer protocol used by both LAN terminals (3) for communication. At this time, the conversion means (12) connected to the LAN (2) accommodating the transmission source LAN terminal (3) adds the identification information of its own conversion means (12) to the address request message (31). Create a cellized address request cell (32) before Each conversion means (12) which has transmitted the plurality of first fixed channels (21) in a broadcast format and has received the address request cell (32) converts the address request cell (32) into a MAC sublayer protocol. All the LAN terminals accommodated in the LAN (2) connected as the address request message (33).
The LA of the transmission destination which has transmitted the address request message (33) in the broadcast format to (3)
The LA that accommodates the destination LAN terminal (3) when the N terminal (3) sends out the address response message (34) notifying the MAC address of its own terminal by the MAC sublayer protocol
The conversion means (12) to which N (2) is connected creates the address response cell (35) by adding the identification information of its own conversion means (12) to the address response message (34) to form an address response cell (35) and Converting means of the transmission source which has transmitted in a broadcast format to a plurality of first fixed channels (21) and has received the address response cell (35)
(12) identifies the ATM addresses of both conversion means (12) using the identification information of the destination conversion means (12) extracted from the address response cell (35) and the identification information of the own conversion means (12). , The variable channel (22) is set between the conversion means (12) using the identified ATM address, and thereafter, the conversion means (12) of the transmission source and the transmission destination are respectively connected to the LAN (2 ), The message transmitted by the MAC sublayer protocol from the LAN terminal (3) is made into cells, and the variable channel (2
A LAN terminal accommodated in the LAN (2) connected by converting the message cell (36) sent to the variable channel (22) and received from the variable channel (22) into a message of the MAC sublayer protocol
LAN terminal of the transmission source by sending to (3) (3)
2. The LAN connection method according to claim 1, further comprising an ATM network, which relays a received / transmitted message between a destination LAN terminal (3) and a destination LAN terminal (3). 3. An arbitrary LAN (2) in the communication network
Any LAN terminal (3) housed in the ATM network (1)
A method of connecting a LAN when communicating with an arbitrary ATM terminal (4) in the above, wherein a MAC address in a MAC sublayer protocol assigned to each ATM terminal (4) is given to each ATM terminal (4). Is provided with an ATM address configured to be identifiable, and the conversion means (12) and the ATM terminals (4) are provided.
Any two or more second fixed channels (23) set up between them, and any arbitrary LAN (2) accommodated to communicate with any ATM terminal (4) in the ATM network (1) LAN terminal (3)
Specifies the network address of the unified network layer protocol in the ATM network (1) and the destination A
When the address request message (41) for inquiring the ATM address of the TM terminal (4) is sent by the MAC sublayer protocol of the data link layer, the LAN terminal (3) of the transmission source
A conversion means (12) connected to a LAN (2) accommodating
Creates an address request cell (42) in which the address request message (41) is made into a cell by including the ATM address created from the identification information of the own conversion means (12), and the plurality of second fixed channels (23) ) In a broadcast format, and when the destination ATM terminal (4) identifies that the network address in the address request cell (42) is the address of its own terminal, it sends it to its own ATM terminal (4) in advance. An address response cell (43) for notifying the assigned ATM address is created and transmitted to the plurality of second fixed channels (23) in a broadcast format, and the address source cell (43) receives the address response cell (43). Conversion means
(12) uses the received ATM address of the destination ATM terminal (4) and the ATM address of its own conversion means (12) to connect the variable channel (24) between the conversion means (12) and the destination ATM terminal (4). ) Is set, and thereafter, the message transmitted from the LAN terminal (3) of the transmission source by the MAC sublayer protocol is made into cells and sent to the variable channel (24) as a message cell (44), A LAN terminal by converting the message cell (44) received from the variable channel (24) into a message according to the MAC sublayer protocol and transmitting it to the LAN terminal (3) of the transmission source.
3. The method of connecting a LAN including an ATM network according to claim 2, wherein a message transmitted / received between (3) and an ATM terminal (4) is relayed. 4. The ATM network (1) in the communication network
This is a method of connecting a LAN when any ATM terminal (4) in the above communicates with any LAN terminal (3) accommodated in any LAN (2). The ATM terminal (4) for communicating with any LAN terminal (3)
The MA of the destination LAN terminal (3) is specified by specifying the network address of the destination LAN terminal (3) defined by the network layer protocol that is used uniformly in (1).
A to the address request cell (51) inquiring C address
A plurality of second terminals including the ATM address of the TM terminal (4).
Each conversion means (12) that received the address request cell (51) when it was transmitted to the fixed channel (23) in the broadcast format
Is the source ATM terminal (4) in the address request cell (51)
After identifying the MAC address of the ATM terminal (4) from the ATM address of the source and making it the MAC address of the source ATM terminal (4), the address request cell (51) is set to the address request message (52) by the MAC sublayer protocol. All LANs accommodated in LAN (2) converted to
LA of the transmission destination that has transmitted the address request message (52) to the terminal (3) in a broadcast format
An LA that accommodates the LAN terminal (3) of the transmission destination when the N terminal (3) sends out an address response message (53) notifying the MAC address of its own terminal by the MAC sublayer protocol.
The conversion means (12) connected to N (2) converts the MAC address of the source ATM terminal (4) in the address response message (53) into an ATM address and the MAC of the destination LAN terminal (3). An ATM address of the self-conversion means (12) is created based on the address and the identification information of the self-conversion means (12) and included in the address response message (53) to form a cell. Fixed Channel (23)
To the source ATM terminal which has sent the address response cell (54) to
(4) is identification information of the destination conversion means (12) and own ATM terminal
Using the ATM address of (4), the variable channel (25) is set between the own ATM terminal (4) and the destination conversion means (12). , M of the cell type message cell (55) sent from the source ATM terminal (4)
The message is converted into a message by the AC sublayer protocol and sent to the destination LAN terminal (3), and the destination LAN terminal is transmitted.
(3) A message according to the MAC sublayer protocol transmitted from (3) is converted into a message cell (55) and the variable channel
By sending to (25), the source ATM terminal
4. The method of connecting a LAN including an ATM network according to claim 3, wherein the communication between the (4) and the destination LAN terminal (3) is relayed. 5. The ATM network (1) in the communication network
L for communication between any ATM terminals (4) in the
A method for connecting an AN, wherein a virtual third fixed channel (26) is set between the ATM terminals (4) and between the ATM terminal (4) and the converting means (12), Any ATM terminal (4) for communicating with the terminal (4) is a network of destination ATM terminals (4) defined by a network layer protocol used in a unified manner in the ATM network (1). An address request cell (61) for designating an address, setting the ATM address of its own ATM terminal (4) as the address of the source terminal, and inquiring about the ATM address of the destination ATM terminal (4) is provided in the plurality of third cells.
When the ATM terminal (4) of the transmission destination identifies that the network address in the address request cell (61) is the address of its own terminal when it is transmitted to the fixed channel (26) of the An address response cell (62) for notifying the ATM address previously given to (4) is created and transmitted to the plurality of third fixed channels (26) in a broadcast format, and the address response cell (62) is received. The originating ATM terminal (4) uses the ATM addresses of its own ATM terminal (4) and destination ATM terminal (4) to send its own ATM terminal (4) and destination AT.
The variable channel (27) is set between the M terminals (4), and thereafter, the source ATM terminal (4) and the destination ATM terminal
5. The ATM according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that a cell type message cell (63) is transmitted and received between (4).
A method of connecting a LAN including a network. 6. A first LAN contained in a LAN (2) connected to the first conversion means (12) on the first fixed channel (21), each said conversion means (12) The signal is sent from the terminal (3), and the first conversion means (12)
When the cell to which the identification information of 2) is added is received, the identification information of the first conversion means (12) and the first LA are transmitted from the cell.
The address of the MAC sublayer protocol of the N terminal (3) is extracted, and both are stored in the self-conversion means (12) correspondingly, and thereafter, in the LAN (2) connected to the self-conversion means (12). Destination LAN terminal from the accommodated second LAN terminal (3)
When a message specifying the MAC sublayer protocol address of (3) is received, the M of the destination LAN terminal (3) is received.
The address of the AC sublayer protocol is the first LAN terminal.
When the address is stored as the address of the MAC sublayer protocol of (3) in the own conversion means (12), the corresponding identification information of the first conversion means (12) is confirmed, 3. The connection setting process is started by creating an ATM address of the first converting means (12) using the stored identification information of all converting means and the correspondence information of the ATM address. LAN connection method including ATM network. 7. An ATM address used in the ATM network (1) is hierarchized into an upper address part and a lower address part and transmitted from an arbitrary LAN terminal (3) to an arbitrary ATM terminal (4). Upon receiving the message, the conversion means (12) extracts the MAC address of the LAN terminal (3) from the message, includes the identification information of the own conversion means (12) in the upper address part, and includes the lower address part in the LAN terminal. A virtual AT of the LAN terminal (3) configured by the MAC address of (3)
5. A method for connecting a LAN including an ATM network according to claim 3 or 4, wherein an M address (40) is created, and the message is included in a cellized message and sent out into the ATM network (1). . 8. The conversion means (12) is a LAN terminal housed in a LAN (2) connected to the own conversion means (12).
When the message is received from (3), the MAC address of the LAN terminal (3) is extracted from the message and stored.
The MAC address of the destination LAN terminal (3) contained in the cell is internally stored in the automatic conversion means (12) when the cell is received through the ATM switch (11) and stored internally as the AN terminal MAC address. It is confirmed whether or not it is stored as the accommodation LAN terminal MAC address, and if it is not stored, control is performed so as to stop the protocol conversion of the received cell and the relay to the LAN (2). ATM according to claim 2, claim 3 or claim 4
A method of connecting a LAN including a network. 9. The conversion means (12) is a LAN terminal (3) housed in a LAN (2) connected to the own conversion means (12).
When the first message is received, the MAC address of the source LAN terminal (3) is extracted from the first message and stored internally as the accommodating LAN terminal MAC address. Arbitrary LAN terminal accommodated
(3) When the second message is received, whether or not the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal of the second message is stored as the accommodating LAN terminal MAC address inside the self converting means (12). 3. When the confirmation is made and it is confirmed that the MAC address is stored, it is controlled to stop the transmission of the received second message into the ATM network (1). A method of connecting a LAN including the ATM network according to claim 3 or 4. 10. A plurality of said first fixed channel (21) and a second fixed channel (21) connected to each said conversion means (12).
Virtual path identifier (VPI) that is the same for all fixed channels (22)
And a virtual channel identifier (VCI), and when each conversion means (12) uses the first fixed channel (21) or the second fixed channel (22), the ATM switch (11)
In the ATM, the header information added to the cell to be transmitted specifies the output route of the conversion means (12) at the connection destination.
A unicast first fixed channel (2
The AT according to claim 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that 1) or the second fixed channel (22) is set.
LAN connection method including M network. 11. A plurality of LANs (2), each of which accommodates a plurality of types of network layer protocols for communication between LAN terminals (3) accommodated therein, communicates with each other by a unified network layer protocol. In a communication network connected to an ATM network (1) accommodating an ATM terminal (4), each of the plurality of LANs (2) and the ATM in the ATM network (1)
A conversion device (12X) provided between the switches (11) for performing address analysis and protocol conversion, and is an M of a data link layer between the connected LAN (2).
LAN information transmission / reception means (12a) for transmitting / receiving messages of AC sublayer protocol and another conversion device (12X) or A via the ATM switch (11).
A that transmits and receives cellized information to and from the TM terminal (4)
TM information transmission / reception means (12b), conversion device address storage means (12c) for correspondingly storing the identification information assigned to all conversion devices (12X) and ATM addresses in the ATM network (1), The ATM information transmission / reception means (12b) for converting the MAC sublayer protocol message received from the LAN (2) into cells
And a protocol conversion means (12d) for converting a cell sent from the ATM switch (11) side to a message of a MAC sublayer protocol and sent out from the LAN information transmission / reception means (12a), and a connected LAN LAN terminal housed in (2) (3)
MA of a terminal with a more specified network address
When an address request message inquiring about a C address or an ATM address is received, or when an address response message to the address request message is received, the identification information of the own conversion device (12X) is added to the address request message or the address response message. Then, the protocol converting means (12d) converts the cells into cells, and then the first fixed channel (2) provided between the ATM information transmitting / receiving means (12b) and all the other converting devices (12X).
It is sent to 1) in broadcast format, and other conversion device (12X)
When an address response message made into a cell is received, the ATM address of the other conversion device (12X) is analyzed through the conversion device address storage means (12c), and then the connection setting processing means (12g) is analyzed. The other conversion device
MAC address analysis means (12e) for requesting connection setting with (12X), and LAN terminal (3) accommodated in connected LAN (2)
MA of a terminal with a more specified network address
When the address request message for inquiring about the C address or the ATM address is received, or when the address response message to the address request message is received, the MAC address of the LAN terminal (3) and the self-conversion device (12X) are identified by themselves. ATM of own conversion device (12X)
An address is created and converted by the protocol conversion means (12d) into cells of a format suitable for reception by the ATM terminal (4), and then all the ATM terminals (4) are transferred through the ATM information transmission / reception means (12b). And an ATM terminal for transmitting in a broadcast format to a second fixed channel (23) provided between
(4) When receiving the cell address response message, the ATM address of the ATM terminal (4) is analyzed, and then the connection setting processing means (12g) communicates with the ATM terminal (4). A to request connection setting from
TM address analysis means (12f) and the MAC address analysis means (12e) or the ATM address analysis means (12f) is connected to the LAN terminal (3) of the other party conversion device (12X) or the other ATM terminal (4) AT
After finishing the analysis of the M address, the own conversion device (12X) and the other conversion device (12X) or the other ATM terminal (4) are requested by the MAC address analysis means (12e) or the ATM address analysis means (12f). A conversion device comprising a connection setting processing means (12g) for performing connection setting processing between the two. 12. The first fixed channel transmitted from a first LAN terminal (3) connected to another conversion device (12X).
(21) and the identification information of the other conversion device (12X) and the MAC address of the first LAN terminal (3) are extracted from the cell received via the ATM information transmission / reception means (12b), and both are associated. When a message of the MAC sublayer protocol is received from the source address storage means (12h) to be stored as a message and the second LAN terminal (3) connected to the own conversion device (12X), the destination LAN of the message It is checked whether or not the MAC address of the terminal (3) is stored in the source address storage means (12h), and if the MAC address is stored, the corresponding conversion device (12X) The conversion device address storage means (12c) is indexed using the identification information, and when the ATM address of the conversion device (12X) is confirmed, the other conversion device (12X) is connected to the connection setting processing means (12g). Request connection setting between and That the connecting channels determining means (12i) converter according to claim 11, wherein further comprising a. 13. The LAN information transmitting / receiving means (12a) from a LAN terminal (3) housed in a connected LAN (2).
When a message is received via the message, the accommodating LAN terminal storage means (12j) for extracting and storing the MAC address of the LAN terminal (3) of the transmission source from the message, and the ATM information from the ATM switch (11) side Transmission / reception means (1
When a cell is received via 2b), the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal (3) included in the cell is the accommodating LA.
It is confirmed whether or not it is stored in the N terminal storage means (12j), and if it is not stored, the protocol conversion of the received cell and the LAN connected to the own conversion device (12X)
13. The conversion device according to claim 11 or 12, further comprising a message relay control means (12k) for controlling to stop sending to (2). 14. The accommodation LAN terminal storage means (12j)
And a LAN terminal (3) housed in the connected LAN (2)
When a message is received, it is confirmed whether or not the MAC address of the destination LAN terminal of the message is stored in the accommodating LAN terminal storage means (12j), and if it is confirmed that it is stored, 14. The conversion device according to claim 11, 12, or 13, further comprising a message transmission control means (12m) for controlling a received message so as not to be transmitted to the ATM switch (11) side. 15. The same virtual path identifier (VPI) and virtual channel identifier for the plurality of first fixed channels (21) and the plurality of second fixed channels (23) connected to each converter (12). (VCI) and stores connection information for all the converters (12X), and the own converter (12) sends a cell to other converters (12) or ATM terminals (4). Fixed channel selecting means for sequentially designating the outgoing route of the conversion device (12X) of the connection destination in the header information added to the cell to be sent to the ATM switch 11 side when sending 12n) is provided, The conversion device of Claim 11, Claim 12, Claim 13 or Claim 14 characterized by the above-mentioned.